Just as America's inner-city foster homes have a tendency to turn innocent babes into gun-toting gangsta rappers, so a whale and dolphin adoption agency now finds itself in the awkward position of producing "natural born killers".
For as long as any of the locals can remember, about 150 bottlenose dolphins had frolicked happily in Scotland's Moray Firth, joined every year by several hundred harbour porpoises passing through from the North Atlantic. Then, in 1991, curiously disfigured corpses of porpoises started washing up on beaches.
Two years later, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) decided for no apparent reason that the dolphins were in need of foster parents, and launched a campaign to "secure a brighter future" for all these "beautiful, intelligent and friendly" creatures.
For just £12.50, foster parents received various bits of paper, a sticker, and a year's subscription to a newsletter (published every six months) "providing excellent coverage of your dolphin's activities."
"The dolphin encompasses all that we admire and respect," said the blurb. Now the hard data are starting to come in on the mysterious porpoise deaths, and the WDCS is having to eat its words.
"Despite their trademark 'smile', (dolphins) appear to be natural born killers," reported Polly Ghazi in the Observer (Dec. 4, 1994). "To the horror of vets and biologists, bottle-nosed dolphins have been savaging their porpoise cousins in the Moray Firth."
The shocking news came as the culmination of work conducted by a team of veterinarians from the Scottish Agricutural College, who had conducted post mortems on 105 porpoises found around Scotland between 1991-93. Of these, 42 found in the Moray Firth had died from massive multiple traumas caused by high-energy impacts, with rib cages crushed and livers and lungs ruptured. Many also had knife-like marks on their skin.
Tests taken using the jaw of a dead bottle-nosed dolphin proved an exact match with the marks. "The only possible conclusion was that these porpoises had been rammed at speed by dolphins," said Harry Ross, head of the veterinary team (Daily Telegraph, Mar. 10). "But there were still many doubters."
Hard evidence was provided when local Mike Hancox captured an attack on film. "At first I thought the two dolphins were playing with a salmon," he said. "But when I looked more closely I could see them flipping up a porpoise with their beaks and battering it when it landed on its back in the water. This destroys the myth of the cuddly, Flipper-type dolphin and puts them in the category of wild animals."
The footage was subsequently shown on BBC Scotland's Operation Survival, prompting series producer Sally Wilson to observe: "The dolphins pack one hell of a punch. They play with porpoises in the same way that killer whales play with seals. The kill can take up to 45 minutes."
Now biologists are trying to work out why the dolphins have turned nasty, with serious consideration being given to territorial jealousy or a possible conflict over food.
A spokesman for the adoption agency, Chris Stroud, could only suggest that this "unusual behaviour" was brought on by man's activities. "In the Moray Firth there has been increased boat traffic, pollution and oil and gas exploration and it could be that this has altered the ecological balance there," he offered.
Then maybe the only problem here is the solution. If increased boat traffic is a factor, just how many of these boats are loaded with foster parents? As they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.