A sick dolphin has died after washing up onshore a Texas beach — where several people tried to ride it back to sea, according to a report.

The people found the female animal stranded on Quintana Beach on Sunday evening and pushed it back to sea but jumped onto it in the process, the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network said in a Facebook post.

The dolphin ultimately became stranded again and continued being harassed by the group.

“This type of harassment causes undue stress to wild dolphins, is dangerous for the people who interact with them and is illegal — punishable by fines and jail time if convicted,” the network said.

Christopher Marshall, a marine biologist at Texas A&M University at Galveston, said the beachgoers may not have known that all marine mammals are federally protected.

“In this case, it’s a pretty egregious example of what not to do,” Marshall told KHOU. “People riding the animal, the animal was quite sick, already stressed at this point. The animal was probably on the brink and the stress is what killed it.”

He said it’s not uncommon for bottle-nosed dolphins to wash ashore along the Texas coast but warned that people should follow the rules if they find one — including leaving the animal alone and calling authorities.

“You could get into some serious trouble with law enforcement. You could face fines or imprisonment. It’s a serious issue,” Marshall told the outlet.

“It really enriches our lives to have these animals around us. They’re quite beautiful and they’re really important to the ecosystem,” he added.