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News: Dolphin bites child’s hand at SeaWorld |
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Posted at 12:30 AM EDT (0430 GMT)  Aug. 23rd, 2006 --
A dolphin nipped a seven-year-old boy while visiting SeaWorld's Dolphin Cove attraction.
A young Hunter Quidor was celebrating his seventh birthday at SeaWorld Orlando in Florida when he was bitten on the hand by a dolphin he was petting.
The dolphin bit Hunter's right thumb, causing it to become bruised and swollen, but the bite did not break the skin. The birthday boy experienced a few short, painful moments while his hand was caught by the dolphin's mouth. His mother rushed to his side when he heard him screaming. Two adults were needed to pry the dolphin's mouth open so the boy could pull out his hand.
The mother does not plan to press charges against the park, but said to her son that the animal needed a "dolphin time-out." On the other hand, her son says that he still is fascinated by the dolphins, but plans on remembering the dolphin that bit him well enough to stay away from him. A SeaWorld spokeswoman said no changes are planned for the attraction. For more information, visit the Daytona Beach News Journal.
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News by James R
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| Comments |
cannonballer
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 1276
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WOA!
Thats some very cool guests! They took a risk, somthing happened and they are acting cool about it. They should be commended!
hope the boys hand gets well sooN!
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| 8/23/2006 12:42 AM |
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Chris L
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 7341
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Uh why is this news. Big deal. A kid tries to pet a dolphin and it bite's his thumb and bruises it a little. Cry me a river. If everytime some kid got stung by a bee at Six Flags Over Georgia or some kid falls and scrapes their knee at Islands of Adventure and we have a news item for every one of those instances, we'd be at a loss for quality control here at TN...oh...woops. We already have that problem.
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| 8/23/2006 1:04 AM |
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cannonballer
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 1276
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^ I think its news, AND its important that people get info such as this so they understand risks such as swimming with wild animals BEFORE they put their kids into the situation!
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| 8/23/2006 1:14 AM |
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Chris L
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 7341
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^ The kid wasn't swimming with anything. He was attempting to pet a dolphin in an interactive lagoon area. And to say people need to understand the risks involved with touching marine life by news such as this is ridiculous. Dolphins have blunt teeth. The teeth are in a mouth. The mouth can clamp shut. HELLO? Common sense. It's not like anything new has been discovered. Domesticated dogs can also bite unprovoked. Do we need headliner news items to alert people about that too? ;) I probably would have understood the big deal if this kid's hand was pierced by the poisonous tendon of a stingray in a touch pond...but this is just dumb.
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| 8/23/2006 2:57 AM |
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Wes
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 10796
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I'm surprised this even made it to the news. It's not a big deal or anything IMO.
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| 8/23/2006 9:08 AM |
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mmb088
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 160
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I like those parents. Sounds like their down to earth.
And agreed, if its a bruised finger, big deal, if the kid lost his finger of course it would make the news.
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| 8/23/2006 8:15 PM |
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Thunderhawk
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 695
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Kinda a weird action for dolphins though...I've swam with dolphins before and they're usually quite friendly.
It's interesting enough to be posted, I guess. Just glad to see there isn't going to be a lawsuit over this one.
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| 8/23/2006 9:25 PM |
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James R
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1221
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I posted this news because I felt it was rather interesting, and it was an event that occurred in SeaWorld, a park that we cover news from. I did not post this to draw sympathies from posters or readers, just to say that a child was bitten by a dolphin at an attraction, something I've never personally seen or heard of before. Several other news outlets (over 25) reported this story, emphasizing that other media felt it was newsworthy.
If you don't feel it's news, by all means, follow correct procedures and take it down.
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| 8/23/2006 10:31 PM |
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cannonballer
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 1276
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To the person that said the child was not swiimming with the dolphin. Discovery cove is the area where you DO in fact swim with dolphins!!!
Heres the link with TONS of pictures of tourists swimming with dolphins!
http://www.discoverycove.com/ />
To James,
I am glad this story was posted, I found it interesting!
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| 8/24/2006 6:23 AM |
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HollieTheMom
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 1
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Hi, This is Hunter's Mom Thanks for the comments and just trying to give correct information since the media usually leaves much to the imagination.
Hunter is the second child bitten in 3 weeks at SeaWorld Dolphin Cove (see note below)
The other family had put out that their child is terrified of dolphins now and doesn't even want to see one and from my interview with the Florida Wildlife Commission during the investigation seems they are gearing up for a lawsuit and are trying to get the 2nd degree misdomenar (sp?) charges filed against SeaWorld from thier son's accident.
My son pretty much has his own shows going on in the underwater viewing area everytime we go and I even have pictures from the day before the accident of Beetle (the dolphin that bit) Playing with Hunter through the glass.
This was a young dolphin and they had just finished the morning trainer behavior interaction time where dolphins are doing all kinds of behaviors and fish is flying and it was like watching dolphinworks. So a young dolphin has a little harder time thinking hey wild play time is over I have to settle down now. He was still in play mode, biteing is a socialization and play part of a dolphin's "communication" and here is a kid I am sure he has imprinted as a playmate and he nipped the thumb and then was probly freaked out as much as Hunter was cause here is his "friend" screaming in his face and my boy can SCREAM!
As far as we are concerened it was the same as a 3 year old getting hopped up on sugar and biting another kid just a bit harder BUT the dolphin does less damage since they have conical smooth teeth, unlike a toddlers little razor teeth.
We recommend both the sleep over experiances and the interaction areas of all the parks that offer this. Every Friday in October there are Sleepovers in Shark Encounter, Nov 18th is a sleepover in Mannatee, April I think is when they have Help the trainers search for eggs the birds int eh park have laid and sleepover in Penguine and in June/July they have Hot Summer Nights sleepovers in Wild Artic.
If you have a group of 20 you can do like us and reserve dolphin underwater viewing, manatee, Penguin, Buluga Whale, or Shark Encounter for a Birthday party slumber party or they also have slumber parties that are geared towards Scouts for merit badge, and school groups based on grade level.
DO the tours as well they are not very expensive and you learn so much and we do them over and over and learn something new everytime. Plus where eles are you going to be warned to approach a penguin so they can see you cause they will projectile poop? :-) On Preditor's tour try and get on the 1:15 tour cause that is mid day feeding time and too funny to watch the whales fussing at the trainers to hurry up with the food.
Dine With Shamo another thing we do often and every time is diffrent.
Have Fun and now can someone tell me how to get my ride count stuff submitted? :-) (nevermind I found it :-)
(Discovery Cove is a seperate park and we did go there this summer and it was AWESOME! If you want to go and save some money for the time cost of sitting through a timeshare spiel or as I call it "free breakfast" here is a deal from the time share I own at and used for our long weekend Discovery Cove Up Close Exploration it is $399 and includes Two one day dolphin swim packages to Discovery Cove and the two passes to Sea World or Bush Gardens and 4 days/3 nights at either an orlando area hotel or suite or one bedroom timeshare at Sheraton Vistana Resort. One time we did the Sea World package and we had a $250 dollar a night suite hotel and the Discovery cove trip we had a one bedroom at Vistana. Our friends also got the one bedroom at Vistana so I think it just depends on when you go if they have a one bedroom avalible or not.
the number is 1-800-451-2346 and my name as the owner that refered you is Hollie Bethany)
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| 8/25/2006 10:15 AM |
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