$20,000 Reward Offered in Dolphin Slaying Case

As the effort continues to find out who is responsible for shooting two dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico in recent weeks, a number of donors have come forward to help catch the culprits.

The Clearwater Marine Aquarium is among those who have stepped up to the plate to assist the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s law enforcement arm in determining just who is responsible for shooting a bottlenose dolphin with an arrow, that agency reported. The aquarium joins such other donors as the Coastal Alabama Business Chamber, the Coastal Conservation Association and the Humane Society of the United States in upping the reward from $5,000 to $20,000 for information that leads to an arrest in the case.

That case came to light last weekend when authorities found a dead dolphin with an arrow in its side near Alabama’s Orange Beach.

“Preliminary results of a necropsy, or non-human autopsy, suggest the dolphin lived with the arrow in its side for at least five days before eventually dying from a secondary infection caused by the wound,” a NOAA media release stated.

See Also:

• 2 Dolphins Shot in Gulf of Mexico
• Monster ‘Shrimp’ Bagged by Florida Fisherman

That grisly discovery was the second in recent weeks. The first dolphin slaying was uncovered around Thanksgiving when a pregnant bottlenose dolphin was found dead in Miramar Beach. She had been shot with a gun, AL.com reported. The reward in that case remains at $2,500, NOAA wrote in a media release.

Dolphins are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. That act makes it illegal to harass, harm, kill or feed wild dolphins. Violations can result in civil or criminal prosecution and fines up to $100,000 and one year in jail, NOAA noted.

Anyone with information about the crimes is asked to contact NOAA’s law enforcement office in Niceville at 1-850-729-8628 or the NOAA Enforcement Hotline at 1-800-853-1964.

Anyone who spots a sick, stranded or injured dolphin is asked to call 1-877-WHALE-HELP.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium is “fundamentally a hospital for sick and injured marine life,” its website says. “However, what we do is so much more. We inspire the human spirit, through the animals and their stories of survival, which touch all of us.”

The aquarium is home to Winter the Dolphin and sidekick Hope who have been made famous in the movies “Dolphin Tale” and “Dolphin Tale 2.”

Patch file photo