#MarineWildlife - Galway RNLI's lifeboat came to the rescue of five swimmers who were attacked by a dolphin off Blackrock Tower at Salthill yesterday evening (Wednesday 1 October).
Reports from people who witnessed the incident say the large marine mammal was circling the swimmers then swimming at them in an intimidating way and glancing off them, coming and going, with its tail and nose.
After a member of the public raised the alarm with the Irish Coast Guard, the lifeboat launched from the nearby docks around 7.25pm and was on scene within five minutes.
A fishing vessel in the area had moved in separate the dolphin from the swimmers, and the lifeboat joined in to keep the cetacean at bay until they made it safely ashore.
The swimmers were said to be very shaken by the incident but did not require medical assistance.
Lifeboat helm Ciaran Oliver said his crew then did a sweep of the beach from Blackrock to Seapoint to warn others, assisted by additional lifeboat crew on the promenade.
It's not yet clear what dolphin was responsible for this incident, though it comes just days after reports that an aggressive migrating dolphin known as Clet had taken up with the bottlenose once known as Dusty off the nearby Aran Islands in Galway Bay.
