In Argentina, a young Franciscana dolphin was allegedly killed on a beach after it was pulled from the sea into the hot sun so tourists could take selfies with it. The baby dolphin has died as a consequence of severe dehydration and “rough handling” by a crowd of eager tourists.
The animal, along with another dolphin,was reportedly taken from the water, so people could take pictures with it, and images from the scene—which were posted to Facebook—show one of the dolphins surrounded by a crowd of beachgoers.
“Dolphins can not remain long above water. They have very thick and greasy skin that provides warmth, so weather will quickly cause dehydration and death,” an environmentalist from Vida Silvestre Foundation wrote online in response to the incident.
The foundation confirmed that at least one of the dolphins had died, but it is unclear whether the second animal survived the ordeal.
As if the loss of life simply to satisfy some tourists’ need for photographs wasn’t bad enough, Franciscana dolphin are classified as a “vulnerable” species buy the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN ) and found only in the waters of southern America.
According to Argentinian Wildlife Foundation, there are only 30,000 dolphins left in the world and they issued a public reminder about the vulnerable dolphins.
