KEY BISCAYNE, FLA. (WSVN) - New video has been released capturing the moment a dolphin attacked a trainer at the Miami Seaquarium.
The Seaquarium’s Dolphin Flipper Show on April 9 took a terrifying turn when a trainer was seen splashing in the pool during a routine.
This was not part of the show.
The video was taken by photographer Shannon Carpenter who was in the audience Saturday, and posted the video to his TikTok account. Carpenter said the attack happened about 10 to 15 minutes into the show.
“[It] looked like the dolphin rammed into the trainer,” said Carpenter. “There was a struggle, some kind of collision under water happened. The lady on the paddleboard, she paddled out of the water pretty quick, and then the lead trainer started swimming back towards the dock, and it looked like she got ran into a couple more times.”
The trainer climbed out of the water and remained on her knees until the end of the show.
The animal welfare activist organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has long been calling for an end to this operation. The organization put out a statement on the aquatic attack.
“Time is up for the Miami Seaquarium, where long-suffering dolphins desperately need protection and workers are at risk. PETA urges this abusement park to end its exploitation of dolphins by getting them to sanctuaries as quickly as possible, so that they’d never be used in tawdry shows again and no one else would get hurt.”
In March, the new owners of the park announced an end to shows with its ageing orca Lolita and promised a new beginning for the Seaquarium.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Seaquarium wrapped up their investigation and said in a statement, “a trainer accidentally scratched the dolphin, Sundance, with her hand. This was undoubtedly painful to Sundance, who reacted by breaking away from the routine and swimming towards and striking the trainer. Both Sundance and the trainer are recovering well.”
According to the Seaquarium, this is the first time the trainer and the dolphin had a collision. As a result, they are taking another look at the procedures for the presentation.
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