A dolphin that washed ashore in Louisiana was riddled with bullet holes — and now federal officials are now offering a huge reward for to track down the party responsible.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service announced the dolphin’s death Tuesday … saying the mammal’s body washed up on Mae’s Beach in Cameron Parish on March 13.
The NOAA says it performed a necropsy — an animal autopsy — on the body … and found multiple bullets lodged in the brain, spinal cord, and heart. A photo of the dead dolphin has been circulating — although, it doesn’t appear to show the bullet holes described.
Either way, officials are offering a $20,000 reward for anyone who has information leading to a criminal conviction or assessment of a civil penalty against the perpetrators of the dolphin’s death. In other words, they wanna catch the bastard who did this.
Dolphin slaying is far from unheard of … in fact, it sadly happens more often than you think. In 2020, Florida officials found a dead bottlenose dolphin in the Gulf of Mexico with a gaping hole — believed to be caused by either a bullet or spear — marring the side of its face.
As we reported … another dolphin washed up on the Florida coast with a stab wound in its head back in 2022 — when officials say the animal was killed while begging humans for food.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act makes it a crime to hunt, harass, capture, kill, or attempt to do so, to any marine mammal, including dolphins.
Violators face up to $100,000 in fines and up to one year in jail per violation.