A judge today imposed an injunction against two wildlife enthusiasts forbidding them from going within 500 yards of a female bottle-nosed dolphin that recently became a popular attraction to divers and swimmers off the coast of Kent. Two local men have been charged after police received an allegation from the female dolphin that she had been consistently sexually harassed by the two divers.
A lawyer speaking on behalf of the dolphin claim that her life had been made a misery by the swimmers who would frequently pester her in bays on the south east coast despite her making it clear that their attention was not welcome. ‘They claimed that the dolphin was affectionate and friendly and liked to be stroked on her tummy’ said the lawyer. ‘Nothing could be further from the truth; she found their lack of respect for her personal body space to be intimidating and aggressively sexual.’
Asked by the defendants’ legal counsel why she did not ‘swim off’, the dolphin’s representative claimed that she felt entitled to conduct her daily life without fear of intimidation or molestation from the men. A marine biologist commented that all over the world humans imagine that dolphins enjoy the attention of human swimmers, when in fact they just have a different way of saying ‘Bugger off you pervert, I do not want to be touched by you.’
Following the verdict it has now been revealed that one of the defendants was convicted in 1994 of ‘Stalking a badger’, an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Counsel for the badger had explained how she became too nervous to go out after dark, after the nature enthusiast would regularly spy on her through binoculars, even watching her mate on one occasion. ‘He’s obviously a total perv’ said the lawyer.
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