A 26-year-old man was bitten by a dolphin while swimming at Takasu beach in Fukui Prefecture on Tuesday, the latest in a series of similar incidents at Fukui beaches this summer.
Police said the man, from Toyama City, was taking a dip outside the designated swimming area at around 2:15 p.m. when the dolphin approached him, Kyodo News reported. He told police he touched the dolphin but was bitten on his calf and the back of his hand when he turned to get out of the water.
The man went to a beach hut to wash the blood off his body. A staff member called 119 and the man was taken to a medical facility to be treated for minor injuries.
According to the Fukui Coast Guard, six people were injured in a series of dolphin attacks along the coast of Fukui City last year, and since May this year, at least seven dolphin attacks have occurred at Suishohama Beach in the town of Mihama, Fukui Prefecture ― approximately 50 kilometers south of Takasu beach. In one case, on July 16, a man in his 60s suffered broken ribs when a dolphin rammed into him.
The coast guard has urged swimmers to immediately get out of the water if they see any dolphins.
© Japan Today
25 Comments
piskian
Don't blame them.
OssanAmerica
Dolphins do sometimes bite humans, as most wild animals do, but it's rare. People think of Aquarium dolphins and those trained for "swim with" experiences and forget they are wild animals.
nosuke
The Fukushima radiation making the cute mammals into monsters how dare a cute dolphin bite human flesh
Reginald Bok
Interesting story, though.
Have never heard of a dolphin biting a human before.
Sven Asai
Haha, when it’s kawaii and has teeth then it is not kawaii. lol
wallace
nosuke
Do you know Takasu Beach in Fukui Prefecture is on the opposite side of Japan from Fukushima on the Japan Sea? I guess you think the dolphins must swim from Fukushima to Takasu Beach.
dan
I definitely don't blame them either ...we treat their home like a dumping ground for our poisonous waste and sewage.
River
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/18262014/worlds-most-savage-dolphin-attacks/
WA4TKG
Strange; I'm from Florida and actually had one do an acrobatic flip (like at Marineland) out of a breaking wave to WARN me of sharks in the water.
Right when he did it, I saw a shark to the right of me, flopping around on the shore.
Never seen anything like it in 50+ years living at the beach.
Now, I read this.
Dan
Have you never watched a documentary "The Cove"?? Dolphins are just striking back!
Eastmann
new movie to be made
Dolphin JOZU
Mr Kipling
Sharks, jelly fish, sea snakes, stone fish, and fish using the sea as a toilet.... And now dolphins going postal...
The sea is an exceedingly bad place to be.
smithinjapan
Dolphins finally starting to get their revenge. :) Mind you, a little nip here and there doesn't make up for a massive slaughter.
englisc aspyrgend
Maybe Japanese shouldn’t murder Dolphins.
Bordeaux
Maybe, it is revenge for a lost companion at the hands of Japanese fishermen. It is no different than the whales in the Atlantic attacking boats.
Reginald Bok
Rodney
Snorkel and dive there all the the time. Never seen a dolphin he is very lucky. I’ve only seen a dead whale
餓死鬼
Probably better than getting rammed by a dolphin.
cleo
I got rammed by a white-banded triggerfish (15 cm in length) twice on a recent trip to Okinawa. (Seems I intruded on its breeding space) Hurt like hell. Would not like to be rammed by a dolphin!
nokogiri
Not surprising. The annual slaughter of dolphin happens quite close to Fukui. Dolphins are clever, and they have learnt who their enemies in this region are. If Japan would only stop this madness…
Mark
"""While dolphins are not usually aggressive to humans, hostility towards swimmers is not unheard of. Scientists have suggested that wild bottlenose dolphins find swimming alongside humans "incredibly stressful," finding evidence that it disrupts their behavioural routines.Jul 16, 2023""
Swimmers injured in dolphin attacks on Japan beach - BBC
BBC
https://www.bbc.com › news › world-asia-66216199
Get out of their ways and respect their territory people or risk being injured.
wallace
nokogiri
Taiji is on the Pacific coast no where near Fukui.
Mark
Could it be revenge or just a reminder that they are about to be MURDERED!!
Mark
""Dolphin meat is consumed in a small number of countries world-wide, which include Japan and Peru (where it is referred to as chancho marino, or "sea pork"). While Japan may be the best-known and most controversial example, only a very small minority of the population has ever sampled it.""
Marine mammals as food - Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Rikidozan88
Revenge of the Cove!!!