Dolphins being pushed to extinction twice as fast from being fed by tourists, experts reveal

Dolphins in Western Australia – and across the country – could be pushed toward extinction twice as fast as would otherwise have been the case due to being fed by tourists, a new study has revealed. A Queensland University team focused on Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in Bunbury as part of an international study into how dolphin population are impacted by human interaction. Honing in on Bunbury’s population of about 350 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, scientists discovered that number could fall to just eight within the next century, with the lead author of the study, Dr Valeria Senigaglia, warning the scale of the fallout caused by human interaction would be significant. “Feeding dolphins has been correlated with high levels of begging behaviour, (such as) approaching vessels for handouts, which leads to inappropriate food or injury, and the removal of bait from fishing gear that could lead to entanglement,” Dr Senigaglia began.