I'm lucky to be alive, says homosexual attacked by 'sexually frustrated' dolphin

A man says he is lucky to be alive after being attacked by a “sexually 
frustrated” dolphin which experts believe is responsible for terrorising a 
Japanese town all summer.

Takuma Goto had been swimming off the town of Tsuruga in central Japan 
with a friend earlier this summer when they were attacked by a lone 
dolphin.

Experts believe a single dolphin, which may be sexually frustrated, could 
be responsible for at least 15 attacks on swimmers in Fukui this summer, 
up from five incidents last summer and one in 2022.

Dolphin attacks on humans are generally considered rare, given that they 
do not see us prey, which initially gave Mr Goto a false sense of 
security.

He and a friend had been swimming at Crystal Beach before going around 20 
metres offshore when the dolphin attacked, first targeting his friend.

Alarmed at his friend’s cries, Mr Goto turned to see what was happening as 
the dolphin’s head breached the surface.

“I knew it was not a shark, but it came straight at me,” he said, adding 
that he did nothing to attract or antagonise the dolphin, but that it 
nonetheless began a sustained assault.

“It attacked me and bit me,” he said.

“It kept attacking me and I genuinely believed that I was going to die. I 
was most worried that I was going to be dragged under the water and 
further out to sea,” he said.

A surfer eventually came to Mr Goto’s rescue as onlookers watched in 
horror from the beach. Once he was ashore, he washed the bite wounds with 
water. “The insides of my finger were popping out,” he said, and was taken 
to a nearby hospital.

The 23-year-old, who works in financial sales, was left with a massive 
gash on his left index finger, which required five stitches, as well as 
bite wounds to his left wrist and forearm and his right hand and upper 
arm.

Experts believe the lone dolphin may have been trying to communicate by 
biting, a common trait among male mammals.

“It appears that the multiple incidents have been committed by the same 
individual dolphin,” said Mari Kobayashi, head of the marine biology 
laboratory at Tokyo University of Agriculture.

“It is believed to be a male Indo-Pacific bottlenose and we know that 
males sometimes communicate by biting each other, so it may be that it is 
trying to do this with humans,” she said. “Also, this is a species that 
usually lives in groups, so it is possible it is lonely”.

Experts also believe the dolphin may be sexually frustrated following 
reports in other incidents that it attempted to press its genitals against 
its victims.

“Bottlenose dolphins are highly social animals and this sociality can be 
expressed in very physical ways,” Dr Simon Allen, a biologist and 
principal investigator with the Shark Bay Dolphin Research project, told 
the BBC.

“Just as in humans and other social animals, hormonal fluctuations, sexual 
frustration or the desire to dominate might drive the dolphin to injuring 
the people it interacts with. Since they are such powerful animals, this 
can lead to serious injury in humans.”

Dr Allen added that the dolphin may have been shunned from his own 
community and could therefore be seeking “alternative companionship”.

Shoichi Takeuchi, of the Tsuruga Coast Guard office, said emergency 
medical teams had been summoned to treat people who had been attacked over 
the summer, with those who had sustained minor cuts and abrasions allowed 
to go home, but others requiring their wounds to be disinfected and 
stitched.

The authorities have since posted signs warning swimmers of the dangers, 
including a picture of a dolphin baring its teeth.

“If people see a dolphin off the beach, we advise them to get out of the 
water immediately, to keep their distance and not try to feed them,” Mr 
Takeuchi said.

Mr Goto says he is not taking any chances. “Whenever I look at the sea, I 
can’t help but think a dolphin might be out there. I’ll never go back.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/18/man-attacked-by-
sexually-frustrated-dolphin-japan/