Who’s whacking the dolphins?
A highly fishy murder mystery is unfolding off the Florida coast as two of the sea creatures were found apparently shot within a few days of each other, authorities said Wednesday.
Wildlife workers flipped when they discovered the first dolphin fin-ito — with a bullet hole blasted into the left side of its head — washed up on Pensacola Beach on Jan. 27, according to officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“They found the dolphin with large gaping head wound, conducted an animal autopsy and found a bullet,” Stacey Horstman of the NOAA told The Post. “What’s concerning is that these are just the ones we are finding — not all harmed dolphins will hit the beach and be detected.”
The stunning discovery of the rubbed-out water critter came just three days before another one of the majestic mammals was found shot or possibly speared to death several hundred miles away near Naples, officials said.
And in May, a dolphin was also found impaled in the head with a spear-like instrument on nearby Captiva Island.
The agency is offering a $20,000 reward for anyone who can help them figure out who is making the dolphins sleep with the humans.
Another dolphin found brutally killed days earlier near Naples.Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission“Law enforcement relies on public tips, and these rewards can help incentivize them to call,” Horstman said. “We hope it gets people’s attention.”
Biologists believe the deaths may be partially caused by people feeding the animals, potentially attracting them to humans and placing them in close proximity to hunters or fishermen.
The animals lose their natural wariness of people and boats, and their behavior changes when they are fed, officials said, which can prove fatal.
In total, the agency has found 29 injured dolphins since 2002, an average of roughly two per year.
Harassing or killing dolphins is forbidden under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and violators face up a year in prison, and a fine of $100,000.
In July 2018, veterinarians found a bullet in the lung of a pregnant bottlenose dolphin that had washed up on a beach in Mississippi. Animal officials offered a $11,500 reward for tips on the case — but it remains unsolved.
In January, officials also hit a Kansas man vacationing in Florida with $1,250 fine for feeding a dolphin.
Anyone with information about the killings should call the agency’s enforcement hotline at 800-853-1964.
Bottlenose dolphins aren’t considered endangered in the US.
