$20,000 Reward Offered After Dolphin Found Shot Dead in Louisiana

A dead dolphin recently found washed up at West Mae’s Beach in Cameron Parish, Louisiana was shot three times, according to a news release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The NOAA is now offering a $20,000 reward for any information that leads to the successful identification and prosecution of whoever committed the heinous act against nature.

NOAA Fisheries received a tip on March 13 from the Southeast Marine Mammal Stranding Hotline about a dead dolphin on the beach. The nearby Audubon Aquarium Rescue was dispatched and recovered the young dolphin, bringing it to the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans, where an investigation of the dolphin’s remains revealed some disturbing facts.

“The necropsy (animal autopsy) revealed multiple bullets lodged in the carcass, including in the brain, spinal cord, and heart of the dolphin. The animal appeared to have died from the trauma, which occurred at or near the time of death,” NOAA said in a press release this week.

Harassing, harming, or killing dolphins is against the law under the Marine Mammals Protection Act, which can carry a $100,000 fine and a year in prison per violation.

The last known dolphin killing case within the U.S. occurred when a bottlenose dolphin was found washed up on the beach in Fort Myers, Florida in 2022. That dolphin was stabbed to death, according to the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Two dolphins were found shot and stabbed near Naples, Florida in early 2020. But the last time someone in the U.S. was captured and faced serious consequences for harming dolphins was in 2009 when a 50-year-old fishing boat captain got two years in prison for throwing homemade pipe bombs into the ocean.

At least 33 dolphins, including this most recent case, have been intentionally killed in the Gulf of Mexico since 2002. People with information about the dolphin killed in Louisiana last month are encouraged to call the NOAA enforcement hotline at 1-800-853-1964.