If Dolphins didn't have enough to worry about with Climate Change and the Challenges the Deep Water Horizon created for them over the past couple of years, it seems there is now someone killing dolphins in their birthing grounds.
Horrific and mindless murders of dolphins is happening in the gulf and no one can explain it but it needs to be stopped.
Race on to find Gulf Coast dolphin killers
Someone has turned a crucial dolphin birthing area off the U.S. Gulf Coast into a killing zone and the race is on to find the culprit or culprits before the marine mammals begin giving birth and the newborn dolphins are put at risk.
"There is a sense of urgency. It is important that we find the person or persons who is perpetrating this heinous act," said Moby Solangi, lead biologist of The Institute of Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Mississippi.
"It looks like somebody is deranged. It's really senseless. It's repugnant. It's illegal. I don't understand what sort of person would do such a cruel act," Solangi told CNN during an aerial tour of the sites where many of the dolphin carcasses were found.
Solangi, who performed necropsies of all the slaughtered dolphins, said the cruelty of what he's seen is the equivalent of having your pet dog's neck sliced.
"This is gruesome really," Solangi said. "It's not only killing them, it's also mutilating them. And the parts that are taken are disposed of; not next to the animal, they are taken. And they are not worth anything."
What do we need to do? Spread this far and wide because they want the public's help to find whomever is committing these cruel and heinous acts. The punishment is steep, just one act of harming a dolphin is punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 and up to a year in jail.
If you have any information, contact the NOAA Enforcement hotline at 800-853-1964.