Posted on 09/17/2011 8:40:16 AM PDT by Second Amendment First
The harbor porpoise that washed ashore last month at San Francisco's Fort Funston was clearly a victim of foul play.
It had two badly broken jawbones, fractured ribs on both sides and a broken scapula, evidence of a sadistic attack. Worst of all, the female porpoise, which had been seen twice before and identified by researchers in Monterey Bay, was lactating when she was killed, according to marine biologists.
It was a clear case of what scientists are calling "porpicide," the deliberate slaying of a harbor porpoise by a surprising and, to most people, unlikely culprit.
"We suspect that it was a bottlenose dolphin," said Bill Keener, a harbor porpoise researcher for the Bay Area chapter of the American Cetacean Society.
The brutal battering wasn't an isolated incident. Scientists say there has been a dramatic increase in dolphin attacks on harbor porpoises along the California coast over the past few years, including an attack Wednesday off Half Moon Bay.
"I've lived here 15 years, and I've never seen anything like that," said Alvaro Jaramillo, a biologist at the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory, who was jogging on the beach near his home in Half Moon Bay when he looked out in the water and saw two dolphins pummeling a porpoise. "They would chase the porpoise, and it looked like they were sandwiching it between them, then they would throw it up in the air. The porpoise just couldn't get away from them."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
So long, and thanks for the fish.
Dolphin gangs, perhaps from Mexico.
Bush’s fault.
and obviously it was triggered by global warming..
Racist Basstards.
My heavens, we have to save those porpoises - eat more non dolphin safe tuna! Millions of porpoises are depending upon you!
This dolphins need to be reported to AttaaaaaaaaaackWaaaaaaaaaaaatch.com!
Wouldn’t that be ‘Cetacide’?............
Or overfishing, leaving the mammals to battle over ever declining resources. Or they’re from Oakland.
Racism is common among dolphins and chihuahuas. No joke.
The Dolphins are from Miami!............
The elements of the crime are coming together nicely: Bush (of course), global warming (settled science), racism, sexism, speciesism, and TEA Party (synonymous with racist, sexist, homophobe, ...).
Black on black crime?
I think I read a similar article some time ago about dolphins attacking porpoises around Australia. I was suprised when I read that article. Perhaps we don’t know as much about dolphins as we might like to think.
I was watching a program last night. A photographer filmed events in an area of Africa that was suffering from a drought. Some of the things were dreadful.
One segment he filmed started with a hyena which was an "outcast" encountering a clan of hyenas. They weren't going to ignore the outcast, they were going to kill it. After they began attacking the outcast, a couple of lions showed up, and they all scattered. The outcast hyena took the opportunity during the confusion to escape.
After the initial attack by the lions, one of them found a hyena cub which had its back broken during the fracas. The cub had no real chance to live, and could not threaten any other animal. The lion looked at the cub for a moment then attacked it and killed it. The lion only moved on after the cub's body turned cold. After the lion moved on, other hyenas came and ate the cub.
Did it happen after prayers on Friday?
I think it’s a case of bottlenose dolphins encroaching on the territory normally inhabited by harbor porpoises and that’s why you’re seeing a lot of harbor porpoises being killed.
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