Gardaí in Dingle yesterday have been questioning Fungi the dolphin in relation to claims by a forty-three old mother of two that he sexually assaulted her as she swam with him in Dingle Bay last week.

...According to John Hannraty, skipper of the Lady Revlon II, Fungi was "particularly sociable that day. Some days he's interested, some days he's not. But he definitely took a liking to this group of tourists. But they were only in the water for five minutes when the one of the women climbed back into the boat looking very shaken. When she asked to be taken back I just assumed she was ill or something."

The next day the woman and her friends entered Dingle Garda Station and reported the bottlenose dolphin for sexual assault. Dervla Quirke of The Kerryperson newspaper says that this is not the first time allegations have been made against Fungi:

Since this complaint went public earlier this week, several other people have subsequently come forward with their own stories of being molested by Fungi while swimming with him.

..."This dolphin does get very sexually aggressive. He has already attempted to mate with some divers.

"When dolphins get sexually excited, they try to isolate a swimmer, normally female. They do this by circling around the individual and gradually move them away from the beach, boat or crowd of people."

O'Barry said the dolphin would get very excited and rough before trying to mate with a swimmer, possibly causing them to drown.