Two British men were found guilty on Thursday of harassing a local celebrity dolphin during a booze-fuelled late-night swim in the English Channel.
Michael Jukes (27) and Daniel Buck (26) were each ordered to do 120 hours of community service and pay £350 in costs at the Dover Magistrate’s Court on the south-east English coast.
They were found guilty of intentionally or recklessly disturbing a wild animal — tourist attraction Dave the dolphin — when they decided to have a swim while heading home from a drunken party at about 5am on June 9 2007.
Buck admitted being pulled along by the dolphin by grabbing hold of its dorsal fin and Jukes said he had stroked its belly.
A witness told the court that one of them shouted: “People pay hundreds of pounds to do this in Florida and I’m doing it in Folkestone!”
Experts were called to give their opinion as to whether the dolphin had been disturbed by the men’s antics.
The pair said they did not realise they were doing anything wrong and said they even thought the animal had “enjoyed itself” as much as they had done. — AFP