Dolphins more likely to suffer injury if humans feed them, study says

 

A new study conducted in Sarasota Bay concludes that wild dolphins are more likely to suffer injury if humans feed them.

By Sherri Lonon (Patch Staff)

SARASOTA, FL — Well-meaning humans who just can't resist throwing fish overboard to attract wild bottlenose dolphins may be doing the creatures more harm than good. A recent study that draws on data collected in Sarasota Bay in cooperation with Mote Marine Laboratory cast light on the dangers, even when inadvertent and accidental feedings are involved.

"This is the first study that directly links human-related feeding of wild dolphins – intentional or not – with increase risks of injury from human interactions such as boat strikes, entanglement in fishing gear or ingestion of hooks and line," said Dr. Katie McHugh, staff scientist of the Chicago Zoological Society's Sarasota Dolphin Research Program. That program is a collaboration with Mote Marine.

The study was designed to investigate just why bottlenose dolphins seek out human-provided food and if this behavior could increase risk of injury. Data analyzed in the study was collected between 1993 and 2014 by the Chicago Zoological Society/Brookfield Zoo's Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, along with members of Mote's stranding investigations program. That data collected was subsequently analyzed by Murdoch University in Western Australia and researchers from Scotland's University of Aberdeen to produce the study that was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal "Royal Society Open Science."

While Mote and others have long worked to discourage people from feeding or harassing wild marine animals for safety and legal reasons – doing so is illegal under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act – the research backs up the advice, Mote said in a Monday statement about the study's release.

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