Dolphin swim programme attack to be made into a TV movie

The story of four women involved in an attack by a dolphin during a 'swim with dolphins' session at a facility in Mexico is to be made into a movie for tv. National Geographic are making a TV special about the behaviour of the animals. The special will include interviews with the 4 women - Debbie Collingsworth, Billlie Finley, Tammie Demo and LaDonna Houchin and will include a reconstruction of the attack during which Ms Finley sustained injuries.

The four women, on a holiday to Cancun decided to visit the facility where they paid around $100 each to participate in the swim with dolphins session. While watching the previous session they noticed that one of the dolphins had several injuries and appeared to be acting erratically. "One of the dolphins had several cuts on it, there were chunks take out of it all over, including a chunk from its' nose and it's tail looked as though it had been bitten", Collingsworth said.

When the women asked about this the facility staff explained that the dolphin was 'in season', ready to mate. They were advised that during this time it is not unusual for female dolphins to fight with each other, however they were assured this did not pose a threat to the human participants participating in the swim programme.

The women felt assured as the session got underway without any problems, however suddenly the dolphin they had noticed previously with the injuries appeared to "flip" and headed for Ms Finley, pushing her until she was trapped against the wall of the tank. Ms Finley said that at the time she was not aware of being pushed against the wall (or of much else that happened) as she had her back to the animal, however her friends immediately left the water and assisted Ms Finley out of the tank. Although not fatal, her injuries were severe; she received a laceration to her foot and her body had several bruises and she found the attack extremely frightening.

Immediately following the event it appeared that the staff were unprepared for incidents such as this; offered very little assistance to Ms Finley or her friends, offering only Band-Aids and betadine. Furthermore, the women were told that, even if they wanted to, they would not be allowed to re-enter the water but were refused any refund or compensation, and the facility advised that they would not be held responsible for any medical care Ms Finley required for her injuries. Not knowing the cost or availability of medical care in Mexico and three of the women being in the nursing profession, the decision was made to take care of the wounds themselves. "We knew that, with an animal bite, the open wound should not be stitched closed, so we cleaned and dressed it ourselves", Finley said.