Beachgoers Sought After Stranded Dolphin Dies in Texas

A reward of up to $20,000 is being offered to anyone who can assist the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network in identifying people who interacted with and "harassed" a stranded bottlenose dolphin that died.

The incident happened last month in Quintana, Texas, when the organization received a call from a concerned woman who said people had been crowding around a dolphin they had spotted on the beach and were pushing it underwater and placing their children on top of it "as if they were riding the dolphin," according to the Washington Post.

Heidi Whitehead, the organization’s executive director, told the Post that it's common for people to think they are doing the right thing by pushing stranded dolphins back into the water. Whitehead said dolphins often are stranded because they are sick or injured and could be having difficulty breathing. 

After receiving the call, a staff member from the organization advised the woman to tell the people to bring the dolphin back to shore and provide aid by giving it space, keeping it wet and providing shade until rescuers could arrive. The crowd, however, disregarded the advice.

"Unfortunately, they weren’t listening," Whitehead said. The dolphin died shortly after in the water. Necropsy results found the mammal drowned. 

The Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network is hoping that by offering a reward, it will be able to locate the beachgoers. According to the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, anyone found guilty of harassing, harming, feeding or killing wild dolphins could be fined up to $100,000 or face one year in jail per violation, the Post noted. 

Whitehead called the behavior displayed by the beachgoers "inexcusable." 

"It’s one thing when members of the public are well meaning and attempt to push the dolphin back because they don’t know it’s not the right thing to do," she said, "but it’s a completely different situation when it comes to harassment behavior — that type of behavior is totally inexcusable. The most difficult part for me and my staff was just thinking about [the suffering] that animal no doubt endured in its last few minutes of life."

Whitehead added, "If we can turn this tragedy into something where we can educate the public, hopefully that will make that dolphin’s life mean a little more than it already does."

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