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: “[It] looked like the dolphin rammed into the trainer. 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 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.”