(BV / 27-04-10)  The media have delight in tormenting the solitary dolphin Gaspar, which has been living in the Galician Rias for years. CEMMA coordinator, in her blog dedicated to the famous dolphin, and other media, such as Buceo Virtual / Marine World, have denounced the manipulation of news this dolphin generates, such as “The killer dolphin”, or the first piece of new of a national TV channel, which began “a military-trained dolphin causes panic in Cangas port.”

The worst thing is that the following day other TV channels do it worst, accusing Gaspar of “having attacked a group of teenagers of a rowing team, who had to be rescued by the public due to the extreme aggressiveness of the animal, which caused damage and nearly capsize the boat."

These statements and some carefully selected clips where we can see the dolphin playing with the oars have transmitted a false image of Gaspar. We only have to watch the video, lasting about 4 minutes, where dozens of people are seeing the dolphin playing with outboard occupants, and then pay attention to the boat's crew manager, whose helmsman is scared when the dolphin strikes the oar with the fin.

In those moments, the crew gets nervous and tries to move the dolphin away with the oars, and what they get is offer him a new game: striking the oars one by one, and swim among them as fast as possible. Panic make children rush out of the boat and be “rescued” when they have already docked… after dozens of people laughing and clapping that were watching Gaspar’s show. Fortunately, “the marine beast” could not eat them.

It is obvious that some fishermen, divers, skippers and other seafarers are very upset with the dolphin and his jokes, scares, some damages, dispersion of fishing… and a long list of reasons. But these people have not yet accepted that the dolphin is in his natural environment and we are who invade, alter and want to control his environment.

Bryan Anderson, biologist, diver and researcher of the media used by the military to train dolphins says that “one of the many exercises to train dolphins and seals consists of attacking oars of an enemy a boat, so they hit the rower. If anyone taught this exercise to Gaspar, he will do it when he feels attacked”.

Vídeo in YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0rxOKxI4ZY&feature=player_embedded