Dolphins: – Near death after a dolphin attack

Britain’s Claire Bay, 28, was on the holiday of a lifetime in Bolivia, when an innocent swimmer ended up in a fight for life and death.

This is what the British newspaper writes The Independent.

The plan was to travel around South America and Central America for seven months. But on January 3 of this year, after only three months on the road, a dream vacation was suddenly cut short.

Be aggressive

Claire finds herself near the small town of Santa Rosa de Yacoma, which is located on the banks of the Yacoma River.

The place is a favorite tourist attraction because of the crocodiles, anacondas, yellow monkeys, and pink dolphins.

Earlier in the day, she and her friend Lois set off on a guided jungle tour to explore the Amazon Basin.

The tourists decided to stop and swim at the river, where there were also opportunities to play with wild pink river dolphins.

All seemed calm until Claire saw a baby trying to lift one of the dolphins. She told the newspaper that they had become aggressive and she wanted out.

I lost my water bottle

Instead of swimming, I decided to sit on the floating jetty and play with the dolphins with a water bottle instead.

She accidentally dropped her water bottle and jumped into the water to retrieve it.

Doctors were puzzled: – He could not walk

That’s when one of the dolphins suddenly sank its teeth into its right foot.

– I remember seeing a dolphin out of the corner of my eye, and that it suddenly attacked me. It wasn’t the cute dolphin we’re used to seeing: It had a stubby beak with lots of sharp teeth, she told the paper.

At first she tried to break free on her own, but to no avail.

She screamed for help and people ran close to her to try to get her out of the water. It must have taken 20 seconds before the dolphin let go.

rushed to the hospital

She says she was horrified when she saw her foot was partially cut off, and blood was gushing from the wound.

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– The only thing I thought about was that I would lose my footing. The paper says the skin was loose and I could directly see the bone.

The 28-year-old was taken to a nearby hospital. She had to have 32 stitches to sew up the gaping wound on her foot.

She didn’t know yet that she wasn’t done fighting for her life. Claire says the doctors did their best, but she still had an infection that spread to her leg.

Claire was sure she was going to lose her foot – or her life.

She had contracted the potentially life-threatening infection, and the 28-year-old was sent to the capital, La Paz, for further treatment.

There she underwent surgery to remove infected and dead tissue from the wound. She said she had a bad cut in her foot after the operation.

– I am feeling Lost

After two weeks in hospital in the Bolivian capital, she was flown to the UK.

There was directly to the hospital emergency department, and another operation. Again, the doctors had to cut out infected and dead tissue. They also transplanted skin from the inside of her thighs to her feet.

Claire describes the whole experience as traumatic. She is still not sure how the injuries will affect her in the future.

Warning shout: – Danger to life

She says she used to love swimming in the wild, and hopes to be able to do it again in the future. But swimming with dolphins, you’ll never do that again.

– Now I feel lost. I wish I had never been back in the water. She says it’s hard to think of what my life would be like if I didn’t.