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A Miami Seaquarium trainer was attacked by a dolphin during a live Flipper Dolphin Show Saturday.
“[It] looked like the dolphin rammed into the trainer,” Shannon Carpenter, a photographer who was in the audience to see the show, told WSVN. “There was a struggle, some kind of collision underwater 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.”
Following the attack, the trainer escaped the water and remained on her knees poolside until the end of the show.
A dolphin attacks a trainer during the Flipper Dolphin Show at the Miami Seaquarium.
(Shannon Carpenter)
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The Seaquarium said in a statement Tuesday that the trainer accidentally scratched Sundance the dolphin with her hand which led to the aggressive reaction seen on video.
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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) took to its TikTok account to analyze the attack, alleging it stemmed from dolphins being forced to perform at the Seaquarium.
Miami Seaquarium says this is the first time a dolphin has broken routine and attacked. The trainer was reportedly sent to the hospital.
“This was undoubtedly painful to Sundance, who reacted by breaking away from the routine and swimming towards and striking the trainer,” the Seaquarium said. “Both Sundance and the trainer are recovering well.”
