Cute & Cuddly Dolphins Try to Kill Swimmer
Black Sea Dolphins Try to Drown Drunken Swimmer
06.01.2007
MosNews
Ukraine’s emergency workers prevented a pod of dolphins from drowning an intoxicated man in the Black Sea, the Interfax news agency repors.
The incident took place off a beach near the Crimean resort city Yalta, where a pair of patrolling emergency workers happened upon a swimmer under an apparent attack by the water mammals.
The man, reportedly heavily under the influence of alcohol at the time, was some 30 metres from land, near a wave breakwater, and calling for help.
The dolphins [were] attempting to push the man out to sea, witnesses said. [...]
[S]aid Vasyl Tenishchev, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry, Yalta branch: “The dolphins probably were feeding on fish by cornering schools against the pier and the breakwater, and they saw the man as competition (for the fish),” Tenishchev said.
The swimmer was unharmed. He had plunged into the frigid winter water, averaging around four to six degrees Celsius, because of a belief swimming in cold water is good for the health.
06.01.2007
MosNews
Ukraine’s emergency workers prevented a pod of dolphins from drowning an intoxicated man in the Black Sea, the Interfax news agency repors.
The incident took place off a beach near the Crimean resort city Yalta, where a pair of patrolling emergency workers happened upon a swimmer under an apparent attack by the water mammals.
The man, reportedly heavily under the influence of alcohol at the time, was some 30 metres from land, near a wave breakwater, and calling for help.
The dolphins [were] attempting to push the man out to sea, witnesses said. [...]
[S]aid Vasyl Tenishchev, a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry, Yalta branch: “The dolphins probably were feeding on fish by cornering schools against the pier and the breakwater, and they saw the man as competition (for the fish),” Tenishchev said.
The swimmer was unharmed. He had plunged into the frigid winter water, averaging around four to six degrees Celsius, because of a belief swimming in cold water is good for the health.
posted by Oroborous at 8:47 AM
3 Comments:
Sometime ago, when I lived in Southern California, I was surfing on a day with decidedly lackadaisical waves.
I spotted a pod of dolphins moving north, about a mile and a half off shore. In what was, in retrospect, a moment of pure foolishness, I set off on an intercept heading.
As I approached the merge, I reflected on two things. First, a mile and a half from shore is a long way on a surfboard.
Second, I was completely at these dolphins mercy.
Simultaneously with this thought, they all (6-8) disappeared. So I stopped, sat up, and waited.
About thirty seconds later, at precisely the same time, two of them erupted from the water not more than a foot and a half from me on either side.
Then they proceeded to make me the focal point of their own Sea World show for the next ten minutes before resuming their northerly heading.
That little episode was as memorable as it was stupid.
And I about my dolphin-and-panda curry.
I blame George Bush.
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