TALLAHASSEE, FL – A
string of unrelated dead dolphins in the Northern Gulf of Mexico has led
federal investigators to question the causes of their deaths and launch an
investigation with a $30,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
In the past year, six dolphins have
washed ashore with bullet wounds, missing appendages and fins, but the cause of
the incidents has yet to be determined.
The most recent find was off the coast of Mississippi, the
animal had its lower jaw missing, while more incidents span other states like
Alabama and Louisiana. In June, one of the mammals was found in Alabama waters
with a screwdriver stabbed into its body.
“These are senseless, repugnant acts,” said Moby Solangi,
the executive director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport,
Miss. “These dolphins are mutilated in a way that no animal is in the wild.”
The penalty for killing a dolphin under the 1972 Marine
Mammal Protection Act can include jail time and a fine of up to $100,000.
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| A bottle-nose dolphin found in the waters off Mississippi with a gunshot wound, New York Times |
Erin Fougeres, the
marine mammal stranding program administrator for the Southeast region for NOAA
said, “The increase in the animals in the Northern Gulf is something that we
haven't seen in the past, so that’s something unique about this situation.”
In Florida, there
were two dolphins found with gunshot wounds in 2006, but in the past five years
there have not been any reported cases of “mutilated” dolphins. Between 2002
and 2007 there were six reported cases in the Gulf, but since 2007 there have been
five, most occurring within the past two years.
In 2006 a Panama City
charter boat captain was sentenced to one year of probation and a $1,000 fine
for knowingly shooting at dolphins that came to his boat and attempted to steal
bait of freshly caught fish from his clients lines.
A similar case in
2007 landed Orange Beach, Ala., captain a $1,000 fine and two years of probation. But in 2009, a
Panama City commercial fisherman was sentenced to two years in prison, three
years of supervised probation and a $125 special assessment for attempting to
harm dolphins with pipe bombs.
One factor that could lead to more deaths of dolphins Fougeres said was the increase in humans feeding dolphins. The animals come to see people as a source of food creating more interaction between the two species, not always a wanted outcome like in the case of the commercial fisherman.
NOAA officials said
it is hard to determine whether instances happened pre- or post-mortem, making
it harder to pinpoint what or who is responsible.
There are too many factors that come into play to determine
at this time what or who is responsible. The gunshot wounds and screwdriver
incidents are definitely human related, but the missing appendages could have
happened any number of ways including being scavenged by sharks or other marine
life.
Fourgeres said the
one thing that could contribute to more reported cases is the broadness of the
network now and the increase in investigation into reported cases. She said
animals missing appendages could have become entangled in and cut from fishing
nets.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official are
asking for the help of the public and fisherman in seeking to find the cause of
the incidents.
“We’ve had everything from anonymous faxes to anonymous
telephone calls,” said Jeff Radonski, the agency’s acting deputy special agent
in charge of law enforcement in the Southeast. “We’ve had spouses that are mad
at their husbands spout off. It’s the regular gamut that a normal police
officer deals with.”
“There is a great
implication out there that there’s a serial killer, killing dolphins,” said Kim
Amendola, NOAA’s Southeast region communications specialist. “Our federal
agents as well as our mammal experts don't feel there’s any link between the
most recent three dolphins that have been covered in the media.”
How dolphins can become beached
By Karl Etters with contributions form the New York Times
Photo, New York Times
Video, BBC, Planet Earth
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