(Image source: Flash News)

BY AMY WILLMOTT

ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO

An American man’s book portrays his nine month love affair with a captive dolphin.

The book’s been out since 2009, but it’s just recently started to snag international headlines.

New Zealand’s 3News interviewed Brenner -- who told the network -- it was the dolphin who courted him.

BRENNER: “I'd warn anyone who's in a relationship with a dolphin. You have to plan an exit strategy.”
REPORTER: "Mr Brenner believes around 15 percent of the world’s population has had sexual contact with an animal."
BRENNER:“If you believe the statistics, something like one in every six men and one in seven women has had sexual contact with an animal.”

Ruby passed away when Brenner went to college. Since the interview, the book has increased in popularity. At one point it even had a five-star rating on Amazon. The company describes the book like this:

“Set at the height of Vietnam protests, Jimi Hendrix and LSD, Wet Goddess is a story of strange encounters, awkward misadventures, and ultimately, love.”

But a writer for 100gf doesn’t think the popularity is genuine -- suggesting the book may be riding the trend of a cottage publishing industry.

“Wet Goddess is arguably part of a wave of novels that have reached prominence in recent years because of their seemingly absurd topics.”

While Brenner's relationship with the sea seductress wasn’t illegal at the time in Florida, his recent book and interview received a lot of negative feedback. Gawker described Brenner as a...

“Bestiality advocate” and “A self-described sex cult survivor, peyote enthusiast, and Wiccan...”

Still- no one had a chance to interview Ruby about all of this. The Huffington Post interviewed Dr. Denise Herzing of The Wild Dolphin Project who says there’s nothing funny about any of this.

“Glorifying human sexual interactions with other species is inappropriate for the health and well being of any animal. It puts the dolphin's own health and social behavioral settings at risk."

But the David Farrier, the reporter who actually talked to Brenner, didn’t have much bad to say. After the interview’s popularity, Farrier did a follow up Q&A commenting positively on his experience.

“Despite the odd topic, I found Malcolm really easy to deal with, and sort of liked the guy. I didn’t come close to understanding what he did, but as a person, I have no qualms with the man.”

But Farrier’s take is in the minority, and Brenner has taken to his blog to defend himself, saying...

“I’ve put up with plenty of abuse in my life, I don’t need to take any more...” (Wet Goddess)