Sharks attack dolphin, Sydney closes beaches

The sharks attacked the dolphin around seven in the morning local time (Friday 21:00 CET). There were hundreds of people on the beach at the time and there was going to be a surfing festival. Swimmers saw the injured dolphin, which had at least five bites on its body, swimming a short distance from the shore, where it later died. Witnesses said one of the sharks measured at least three meters.

“About 20 meters from the beach I saw a dolphin swimming on its side with a shadow next to it. When I turned around, I saw a white shark about three meters long. But he didn’t even look at me, he was going after the dolphin,” Emily Pettersson told the Nine Network.

The dolphin may have been sick or weakened before the attack, said Jools Farrell of the Australian Cetacean Conservation Organisation. That, she said, would explain why the dolphin came so close to shore. “There’s a lot of sharks in the area and if there’s a dolphin that’s not well, it’s going to attract them because they can sense it,” Farrell added.

Shark attacks on humans are rare at Sydney beaches. Last February, a man died there after being attacked by a shark, the first such incident since 1963, The Guardian reported.