Dolphin bites teenager on Fukui beach – third millennium with mammal attacks

FUKUI – There’s something lurking beneath the waves of the Sea of ​​Japan, and it’s not Godzilla.

On July 21, a dolphin bit a 13-year-old boy on the right hand at Shiraki Beach in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture.

The middle school student, who suffered minor injuries, and several others tried to pet the dolphin after spotting it in water that was one to one and a half meters deep, according to the Tsuruga Coast Guard.

A family member from Mizuho, ​​Gifu Prefecture, who was visiting, made an emergency call at around 12:30 p.m., reporting, “My family member was bitten and injured by a dolphin.”

The boy’s family disinfected the wounds on his finger on the beach and ultimately decided not to take him to the hospital.

This is the third year in a row that at least one dolphin has attacked a beachgoer in Wakasa Bay. A dolphin was spotted earlier this summer at Suishohama Beach in the Takenami district of Mihama, also in Fukui Prefecture, but the July 21 incident is the first bloodbath of the season.

In 2023, a dolphin rammed a man in his 60s who was swimming about five meters off Suishohama Beach, about an eight-minute drive from Shiraki Beach.

The man suffered broken ribs and was also bitten. At least seven other dolphin attacks have been reported this year.

In 2022, several attacks occurred on Koshino Beach further north. Local authorities put up warning signs and placed buoys that emit ultrasonic waves to ward off the dolphins, which rely on echolocation.

The Coast Guard warns against approaching dolphins and to leave the water if you see any.