Dolphins might be playful creatures, but they can also play rough.
A hungry dolphin bit an 8-year-old girl at Sea World in Orlando, Florida, last week as she was feeding it scraps of fish.
Jillian Thomas of Georgia suffered three puncture wounds the size of dimes and a swollen left hand after the unexpected biting occurred, her parents told the Orlando Sentinel.
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Seemingly safe: Jillian Thomas, 8, and her younger brother James were feeding the dolphins at Orlando SeaWorld last month when the incident occurred
Close contact: Jillian’s younger brother leans in close to feed one of the marine mammals
Unaware: Jillian turned away from the dolphin she was feeding fish scrap to but continuing to hold the now empty cardboard container within the dolphin’s view
Jillian’s father, Jamie Thomas, captured the incident on video displaying images of his daughter being nearly dragged into the water with the dolphin that clamped down on her wrist as she looked away.
Thomas posted the video online as a warning to other parents.
‘The first thing I thought was I would have to jump in water and save my daughter’s life,’ he told the Sentinel. ‘I literally thought she was going to be pulled into the water.’
His daughter’s cuts are healing, he said, but Thomas and his wife are upset with the way SeaWorld employees handled the incident, saying they trivialized the severity of it.
Surprise bite: The dolphin bit Jillian, clamping down on her left wrist
Jillian Thomas, then eight, was bitten by a dolphin at the Orlando park and suffered puncture wounds in 2012
Strong pull: The dolphin nearly drags Jillian into the water with it to her parents’ horror
WHEN DOLPHINS ATTACK
While dolphins are known for their playful behaviour and permanently painted smiles, they are also known for their sheer physical power and sharp teeth which have led to attacks on humans.
Human feeding is linked behind many reported attacks though other incidents have been seen during moments of sexual aggression.
Federal officials say dolphins are of little threat to people in captive swim programs – with in 1994 less than 1 out of 10,000 people injured – but those animals in the wild are far more spontaneous and unpredictable in their behaviour.
Earlier this year in Louisiana a single wild dolphin was reported terrorizing residents in a waterside community in Slidell where it bit three people in June.
In one incident a boater’s hand was sliced open by the dolphin’s teeth while he stuck his hand in the water to clean it. In another case a girl was dragged into the water by her ankle.
Other reports described the dolphin as head butting and chasing acquaintances.
Like many other incidents, officials in Louisiana said there were related reports of people feeding the dolphin and attempting to lure it out with food potentially leading to its association of all humans having food.
‘Thank God it didn’t pull her in the water. It’s only a matter of time before someone gets seriously injured at this attraction,’ Thomas wrote in a message at the end of his video.
This isn’t the first dolphin bite the park has seen.
In 2006, two adults pried open a dolphin’s mouth to free a 7-year-old boy from its grip, which left a bruise on the boy’s hand, according to another Sentinel article.
SeaWorld spokesperson Becca Bides at the time told the Sentinel that no changes were being planned for the attraction.
Jullian’s mother, Amy Thomas, said she would have been more careful if she had known her daughter might get bitten.
‘I felt safe,’ she said. ‘Everyone just imagines dolphins as smiling, non-biting animals with knobby teeth. You forget these are wild animals.’
The Thomas family said they do not plan to take legal action against the Orlando-based theme park, but said they would like Sea World to increase the age limit for children feeding dolphins and remind parents that dolphins aren’t always as friendly as they look.
SeaWorld did not return requests for comment from MailOnline.
Dolphin wounds: Jillian suffered three puncture wounds and a swollen left hand after the unexpected biting occurred
Not the first time: SeaWorld has had trouble with its dolphins biting young visitors in the past
