A Stubborn Dolphin Won't Get Out of Venice

Venice has been charmed by a recent visitor: an acrobatic wild dolphin. The feeling appears to be mutual—he so far refuses to leave—but proximity to humans has put him in danger. The dolphin nicknamed Mimmo has been delighting tourists and Venetians for months with his acrobatic flips (watch him in action here). Experts are now eager to move him into open water, especially after verifying wounds indicating that the dolphin had likely been hit by a boat propeller, per the AP.

Multiple agencies used low-intensity acoustic devices to nudge Mimmo away from the heavily trafficked St. Mark's Basin on Saturday—and it worked, briefly. But the dolphin came back within an hour, as experts feared he would. "It's very worrying, because it's a hot spot with lots of boat traffic," says Guido Pietroluongo, a veterinarian at the University of Padua's emergency response team for stranded dolphins, whales, and porpoises, aka CERT. St. Mark's Basin, the shallow expanse of water in front of St. Mark's Square that connects to both the Giudecca and Grand canals, is heavily trafficked by ferries, vaporetti buses, water taxis, and private boats.

Mimmo's arrival in the Venetian lagoon was registered on July 23, and experts say the coastal creature likely followed a school of fish into the brackish waters separated from the open sea by barrier islands. He was nicknamed for the sailing instructor who first spotted him off the Venetian lagoon fishing town of Chioggia. Mimmo follows the pattern of a so-called social loner, typically a young male dolphin that breaks away from the pod for food or social reasons and then comes into contact with the human world, says Sandro Mazzariol, a CERT veterinarian.

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The University of Padua team has been going out weekly to check on the animal, and they get regular updates from citizens who share sightings, including photos and videos. Authorities are warning citizens and boaters not to feed or interact with the dolphin, which is a criminal offense, but the fact that Mimmo's fame is spreading is part of the problem. Experts don't plan any immediate action and are hoping that colder seasonal temperatures will lure him, and his fish prey, out of the lagoon toward warmer waters, Pietroluongo says.