Dolphin attacks trainer and drags her under water during show at controversial Miami Seaquarium, video shows

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© Miami SeaquariumA dolphin is pictured at the Miami Seaquarium in Florida. Miami Seaquarium

  • Video footage shows a dolphin at Miami Seaquarium attacking a trainer last weekend.
  • A former veterinarian at the Seaquarium told local media that this was not an isolated incident.
  • PETA denounced the Miami Seaquarium’s “exploitation of dolphins” following a damning USDA report last year.

An audience member captured on camera the moment a dolphin turned violent and attacked a trainer last weekend at Miami Seaquarium.

Video footage of the incident, shared on TikTok, shows the trainer struggling to stay afloat as the dolphin, Sundance, drags her beneath the water.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7084662954309897518?lang=en-US&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.msn.com%2Fen-us%2Fnews%2Fother%2Fdolphin-attacks-trainer-and-drags-her-under-water-during-show-at-controversial-miami-seaquarium-video-shows%2Far-AAWhiVk%3Focid%3Dmsedgntp%26cvid%3D17726d3ceb5d48579e0727eb1478496f

Sundance, who has lived in captivity at Miami Seaquarium for his entire life, can then be seen ramming the trainer towards the pool’s edge.

The trainer was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, according to Local10.com. Miami-Dade safety authorities were contacted as a precaution, the media outlet said, but the trainer did not appear to suffer any serious injuries.

Photographer Shannon Carpenter, from Kentucky, who filmed the episode, was visiting the show with her family when the dolphin appeared to become aggressive. “The kids were cheering and thinking this was neat. You could tell the adults knew something was wrong,” she said, per the New York Post.

1 of 5 Photos in Gallery©343 Industries

The most notable streaming TV shows in the works based on video games, from ‘Halo’ to ‘God of War’

  • Hollywood is mining video games for IP to boost streaming services. 
  • Video-game movies have a history of flopping, but there are plenty of notable shows in the works.
  • Game industry professionals Insider has spoken to think TV is the best medium for adaptations.

Sony’s video-game movie “Uncharted” is doing decent business at the box office, with $271 million worldwide since opening last month. It cost $120 million to make.

While it’s not a flop by pandemic standards, the history of video-game movie adaptations is riddled with epic misfires both critically and financially.

Hollywood still has plenty of game adaptations on the way. The most notable ones are being developed for the small screen, though. For instance, Deadline first reported on Monday that Amazon was eyeing a “God of War” series.

Game sales hit a record $56.9 billion in 2020, according to a report by the research firm NPD. As media companies compete for well-established IP to attract (or keep) subscribers for their streaming services, they’ve set their sights on the video-game industry.

And as long as Hollywood keeps mining games for content, industry professionals are glad it’s embracing TV.

“We play our favorite games for hundreds of hours,” said Christian Linke, a creative director at Riot Games and the showrunner of Netflix’s “League of Legends” animated series, “Arcane.” “Movies don’t do the experience justice when you only stick with that world for two hours.”

Mac Walters, the project director for “Mass Effect: Legendary Edition” — a remastered collection of the sci-fi series’ original three games — told Insider during an interview last year that a planned “Mass Effect” movie was scrapped a decade ago.

“If you’re going to tell a story that’s as fleshed out as ‘Mass Effect,’ TV is the way to do it,” Walters said. “There’s a natural way it fits well with episodic content.”

Insider looked at the major video-game shows in the works for streaming platforms, from Paramount+‘s “Halo” to Netflix’s “Assassin’s Creed.”

Read the original article on Insider

Miami Seaquarium did not respond to Insider’s request for comment, but according to a statement provided to CBS News, an investigation concluded that the trainer had accidentally scratched the dolphin.

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“A dolphin and trainer accidentally collided in the water on Saturday while performing a routine behavior as part of the Flipper Show. This was an uncomfortable interaction for both of them and the dolphin reacted by breaking away from the routine and striking the trainer,” the statement said.

The dolphin was also not injured, per CBS News.

Jenna Wallace, a veterinarian who formerly worked at Miami Seaquarium, told Local10.com that she believes it was not an isolated incident.

“I have been told by previous veterinarians and staff that this animal had rammed another trainer in the abdomen,” Wallace told the media outlet.

“When dolphins become aggressive like this, there’s always some underlying thing,” she continued.

Animal rights organization PETA denounced the “exploitation of dolphins” at Miami Seaquarium in a statement published on Tuesday.

“Time is up for the Miami Seaquarium, where long-suffering dolphins desperately need protection and workers are at risk,” said the organization’s general counsel for animal law Jared Goodman.

“PETA urges this abusement park to end its exploitation of dolphins by getting them to sanctuaries as quickly as possible so that they’d never be used in tawdry shows again and no one else would get hurt,” the statement continued.

Miami Seaquarium was cited for numerous animal welfare violations in a 17-page report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) last June.

The report mentioned the feeding of rotten fish to animals, dolphins dying, pools being in disrepair, and inadequate care for the animals.

The Miami Seaquarium is also home to the orca Lolita who has been performing for audiences for 52 years. She has become the focus of a campaign to release her from her orca tank, the world’s smallest, into a sea sanctuary in her native northeast Pacific, reported euronews. 

Read the original article on Insider

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JR

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