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'Porpicide': Bottlenose dolphins killing porpoises
SanFrancisco Chronicle ^ | September 17, 2011 | Peter Fimrite

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 ...


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: porpicide
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To: fhayek
It must have been an accident. They certainly wouldn't do it on porpoise.

I slipped him a fin..on porpoise

41 posted on 09/17/2011 9:47:37 AM PDT by BRL
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To: Second Amendment First

When flipper goes bad...


42 posted on 09/17/2011 9:53:04 AM PDT by Rebelbase (Disgusted with the establishment GOP and their enablers.)
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To: Enterprise

Tigers swim easily. Lions, are they just lazy when it comes to water?


43 posted on 09/17/2011 10:06:10 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (There's gonna be a Redneck Revolution! (See my freep page) [rednecks come in many colors])
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To: Second Amendment First

Bastards!!!!!


44 posted on 09/17/2011 10:07:03 AM PDT by yup2394871293
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To: yldstrk

dolphins are fish...... Mahi Mahi

porpoises are mammals

Except that some porpoises are called dolphins


45 posted on 09/17/2011 10:07:11 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 ....Rats carry plague)
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To: Salamander

bloody animal fights


46 posted on 09/17/2011 10:07:11 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (There's gonna be a Redneck Revolution! (See my freep page) [rednecks come in many colors])
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To: Second Amendment First

LOL!


47 posted on 09/17/2011 10:11:53 AM PDT by yup2394871293
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To: HotKat

You don’t “know” it is Bush’s fault. Could be Cheney’s fault.


48 posted on 09/17/2011 10:15:45 AM PDT by joelt
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To: HiTech RedNeck

I have watched a lot of segments with lions in the water. I get the impression that they aren’t afraid of it at all.


49 posted on 09/17/2011 10:15:47 AM PDT by Enterprise ("Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire)
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To: HotKat

Bush’s fault is the fault that produced Obama’s east coast earthquake.


50 posted on 09/17/2011 10:18:01 AM PDT by righttackle44 (I may not be much, but I raised a U.S. Marine.)
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To: LibertarianLiz

We don’t have to know much about porpoises. We just have to get the tiniest bit of information, then attack them. You know, much like some Freepers attack some Republicans.


51 posted on 09/17/2011 10:22:48 AM PDT by righttackle44 (I may not be much, but I raised a U.S. Marine.)
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To: Second Amendment First

Bottle nose dolphins can be really aggressive with the right stimulus. If there is an in season female nearby they get crazy and they are extremely powerful..


52 posted on 09/17/2011 11:05:58 AM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER (The Second Amendment, a Matter of Fact, Not a Matter of Opinion)
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To: fhayek

Naw, not on porpoise; probably just for the halibut.

These racially motivated murder stories are getting so common, that most people just tuna them out, unless they are especially ghoulashish.


53 posted on 09/17/2011 11:27:08 AM PDT by ApplegateRanch ("Public service" does NOT mean servicing the people, like a bull among heifers.)
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To: Second Amendment First

“Everyone loves the king of the sea,
Ever so kind and gentle is he,
..........
Flying there under, under the sea!”

“Episode 23 - FLIPPER”S RAGE”

“Bud, where’s Flipper?”
“Gee Dad, I think he’s out killiing some other dolphins. They gave him the wrong gang-sign or something.”


54 posted on 09/17/2011 4:43:05 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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