A frisky dolphin has driven bathers out of the water in a French town.
Known as Zafar, the marine mammal has reportedly been a common sight in the waters off Brittany in recent months, but his repeated rubbing against swimmers pushed Roger Lars, the mayor of Landevennec to ban swimming and diving off the town's beaches.
“I issued the decree to ensure safety. Several bathers were really afraid – he even lifted up a woman bather with his snout,” he told the Ouest France newspaper.
Issued on 20 August the ban came into force whenever the dolphin was sighted in Landevennec, in the Finistere region.
Zafar was attention-starved and rubbed itself against both people and boats several French media sources reported.
A number of swimmers were prevented from reaching the shore by the apparently aroused dolphin, according to Le Telegramme, a regional newspaper in Brittany. Lifeguards were forced to come to the rescue in one case.
A spokesperson from Oceanopolis, an aquarium in Brest told Le Parisien that bathers should ”never [to] get too close to a marine mammal at full sexual maturity”.
Zafar could cause serious harm with a flick of its tail, inadvertently or otherwise, they said.
However, lawyer Erwan Le Cornec said he had planned to file a petition to overturn the restriction.
“How many accidents involving a dolphin and a human have occurred in the region of Finistere since the two species have lived side-by-side," he told the Agence France Press news agency.
His efforts proved futile however, as before his complaint could be heard Zafar moved on to waters new.
