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Subscribe to RSSPolice in Tasmania, Australia, are investigating whether personal watercraft riders broke any laws when they raced through a pod of dolphins near Hobart.
Video footage apparently shot by an onlooker shows two personal watercraft, each with a man and a woman on board, coming up behind the pod before racing through them on Saturday in Frederick Henry Bay, The Mercury newspaper of Tasmania reported.
Witnesses said the watercraft managed to separate a pod of about 30 dolphins, according to Australian Broadcasting Corp.
According to Marine and Safety Tasmania, Jet-Skiers and boaters must not exceed 8 knots within 100 meters (330 feet) of dolphins and they must withdraw immediately if the animals show signs of disturbance, The Mercury reported.
Inspector Stuart Scott told the newspaper police would be interviewing the watercraft riders to determine if marine mammal protection laws were broken.
One of the riders, Todd Tatnell, claimed they did nothing wrong and that the dolphins had been following them before and after the video was taken. He denied that the dolphins were distressed.
"It's just been blown right out of proportion over nothing really," he was quoted as saying by the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
"We were only just playing with the dolphins as you do when you go out on the boat and Jet Skis and they'll come and play with you all the time."
Wildlife biologist Kris Carlyon of the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and the Environment told The Mercury it’s likely the marine mammals were scared away and would not return.
"The dolphins will have felt harassed and basically will clear out, at least in the short term," said Carlyon.
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These people are STUPID
Im certain that these dolphins were offended. They deserve repairations after this foolish behavior. How dare they disturb the natural migration of the majestic creatures. Human beings have no place on this planet, how dare they!
This is stupid,those people are stupid,as they lack common sense.The same could be said for seemingly a child like grendel.It is quite amusing to ,is it anthropomorphize[?] the dolphins to the point that " the dolphins will have felt harrassed" Amusing.We have a dolphin areeek,eeek,yaeeek[whisperer] up in here
How about we all agree that these were idiots that disturbed a pod of dolphins and tried to justify it by saying they (dolphins) were enjoying it? Weak defense in court but what the hell.
The same could be said for running through a flock of pigeons. (who hasn't done that)
Why can't we run over stupid people like this, when they do stupid things like that. Too many people on this planet!
yeah that's called murder, or at least assault with a deadly weapon
there is no question about that . They are giving all humans some very bad vibes. If we are collectively responsible, we are in a bad place.
yeah those peole are idiots
If the dolphins truly felt threatened, they would have attacked the jetski or have swam off and away from the danger. They dolphins are not stupid or incapable of removing themselves. Now if the guys deliberately went through the pod, then yes, they need to be dealt with.
But unless the dolphins can specifically say "They ran over us on purpose! arrest them!" there's not much they can really do.
I don't know, I've never played with dolphins! What does SeaWorld think about this! ARE YOU THERE!
well seeing how when i jet ski in the gulf i almost always have several following me like right beside me and i try to out run them and cut left /right and they will not go away.. then again i never have drove up to them they just come up to me. I doubt they were afraid at all seeing how they are a top Apex and find people and boats etc too interesting to ignore
It is the amusement that many Americans on this site they complain that the dolphins are harassed in this case. However you tolerate the cruelty abuse and exploitation of animals in your brutal food industry. You will worry about the dolphin but torture the cow for your 99 cent hamburger.
stupid law to protect dumb fish anyway, there should be a strict limit of 3 dolphins per boat per day, anyone caught with more than that in their possession should be fined.
man, they are good eating!
dolphins are not fish but mammals and evidently way more intelligent than you. You are the example of our disgrace.
didnt mean to post here.
Jean Rennais & every other non-american that posts anti-american opinions on these boards.....Yes the whole world hates us, we get it. The whole world hates us americans soooo much that they wont watch movies (almost all american made), wont listen to the top singing artists (almost all american), wont eat our food, wont buy or wear our fashions, wont watch our american tv shows, wont vacation here (your frigging everywhere), wont invest in our economy (every house in fla being bought by foreigners), wont watch our sports (Superbowl highest rated program worldwide), wont admit in ANY WAY whatsoever that you enjoy anything about America. WE get it. We suck. We are a horrible culture. We are not the wealthiest nation in the world, we are not the largest giver of humanitarian aid and $$, we are not the most diverse and accepting culture in the world, we don't provide the world with the best and brightest doctors/medicine/scientists. We have nothing to offer the world. We get it.
I wonder: If any of you environmentalists/PETA-types ever thought of this. Imagine you are back in the cave with your fellow cave-brethren. You've been foraging, gathering and eating nuts and berries and sticks for your whole life (maybe 15 years by now, your past middle age!). Now the genius in the cave (as smart as a dolphin) has invented fire and cooked the first mammalian steak and shared it with the rest of cave. Everyone rejoiced. Except you? If you lived back then would you have been the first to protest, go break all the hunting spears, piss out the campfire? Get over yourselves, this goes back tens of thousands of years. If your worried about feeding the earth, then donate your money to many of the world farmers. Yes, dolphins swim up to jet-skis, and yes, humans are a**holes, even some environmentalists. But none of us knows what really happened. Relax and give it a rest
Yeesh, talk about blowing things out of proportion.
Why are these people idiots, exactly? People are out minding their own business and having a good time, and suddenly dolphins appear. And, what? They should all pile onto the boat or play dead for fear of scaring them?
I know people like dolphins, great, but this is not a big deal. Even if these dolphins were disturbed, which I personally doubt, I'm sure they'll get over it and get on with their simple lives much more quickly than many of the humans involved in the story.
At worst the people here were just ignorant of the local animal protection laws, which I totally sympathize with. I would never bother to check precisely how fast I'm allowed to go if a bunch of critters were to approach me while I was out playing. I hope this nonsense goes away and this legal mess doesn't ruin their memory of an awesome vacation (racing dolphins on a jet ski sounds really cool).
They call him flipper flipper