{"id":94094,"date":"2025-08-24T18:32:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T18:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/94094\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T18:32:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T18:32:13","slug":"robust-powerful-and-unpredictable-give-reggie-the-dolphin-his-space-warn-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/94094\/","title":{"rendered":"“Robust, powerful and unpredictable”: give Reggie the dolphin his space, warn experts"},"content":{"rendered":"

What seemed like harmless fun has quickly turned sour as a\u00a0bottlenose dolphin<\/a>\u00a0in Dorset, England, has been seen jumping on swimmers and pushing them underwater.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The lone\u00a0dolphin, known as Reggie, first shot to fame when a family shared footage of it playing in the water with them. But this seemingly friendly behaviour quickly changed and is worrying experts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat seems like a friendly bond is actually habituation \u2013 the dolphin changing their behaviour to fit a human presence,\u201d says Danny Groves, head of communications at Whale and Dolphin Conservation<\/a> (WDC) in a statement. “People really shouldn\u2019t jump in the water with solitary dolphins as it isn\u2019t good for them or the dolphins.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to a BBC\u00a0report<\/a>, Reggie has been seen trying to push swimmers\u2019 heads underwater.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When people interact with these wild animals, they can lose their natural caution as they get used to being around humans. Habituation usually happens in gradual stages, says Groves, but the speed with which Reggie has become accustomed to humans is alarming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, it can take several months for a solitary dolphin to progress from stage 0 (no interaction with people or boats) to stage 4 (full interaction with people and boats), but in the case of Reggie reaching stage 4 has only taken a matter of weeks,\u201d he says, adding that this \u201cis now a cause for serious concern, both for the dolphin and for public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reggie has reportedly already been injured, possibly by a boat propeller (seen in the image at the top of the article).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"BottlenoseBottlenose dolphins are powerful marine animals that can swim up to 22 miles per hour (35 kilometres per hour). Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

The Marine Management Organisation<\/a> (MMO), Dorset Police and Dorset Wildlife Trust issued a\u00a0joint statement<\/a> reminding people that cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) are protected and that people can be fined or even receive jail time for approaching or harassing them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough seeing dolphins in the wild can be a special experience, irresponsible behaviour, particularly from those swimming, paddleboarding, jet-skiing or operating watercraft, can place the animal, or yourself at risk,\u201d the statement says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bottlenose dolphins are very large animals. Some individuals can reach\u00a0four metres\u00a0long and weigh around\u00a0500 kilograms\u00a0\u2013 that\u2019s heavier than the average\u00a0grizzly bear<\/a>. The bottlenose dolphins found in the UK grow larger than anywhere else in the world because being bigger, and having more blubber, helps them keep warm in cold British waters. Their size and strength mean they can potentially do significant damage to a swimmer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDolphins are large (often extremely large) and typically are robust and powerful,\u201d says Groves. \u201cThey may react unpredictably, but we shouldn\u2019t demonise or punish wild creatures for being wild.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MMO adds, “We\u2019ve seen a lot of people on social media suggesting it\u2019s fine to interact if Reggie approaches them. However, we advise that people in or on the water keep a steady course, slowly leave the area, or simply exit the water.”<\/p>\n

Top image: ‘Reggie’ the dolphin. Credit: Marine Management Organisation<\/p>\n

More wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What seemed like harmless fun has quickly turned sour as a\u00a0bottlenose dolphin\u00a0in Dorset, England, has been seen jumping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-94094","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}