Dead dolphin with bullets in brain and heart found washed up as cops offer reward

A hefty cash reward has been offered in exchange for information regarding the sick person who left a dolphin dead with 'multiple bullets lodged' in the poor creature's brain

A dolphin was found cruelly shot to death on a Louisiana beach last month, with “multiple bullets lodged” in the animal’s brain.

The juvenile bottlenose dolphin was found after the corpse washed up on West Mae’s Beach in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, on March 14. Now the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is offering £16,000 for information on who was behind the grim act.

Audubon Aquarium Rescue, NOAA’s stranding network partner, brought the dolphin to the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans. A necropsy revealed “multiple bullets lodged in the dolphin’s brain, spinal cord, and heart,” according to the agency.

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Officials confirmed the dolphin died from trauma, occurring near or at the time of its death. According to the New York Post, the agency’s Office of Law Enforcement is investigating the dolphin’s death, offering a hefty cash reward for any details that might lead to the arrest and conviction of the dolphin’s killer.

Under the Marine Protection Act, harassing, harming, killing, or feeding wild dolphins is outlawed, with violators facing fines of up to £80,000 or prison time.

In the UK, dolphins, or rather porpoises as experts claimed, made headlines recently when several of the animals were spotted in the Thames in south west London.

The unusual sight was observed in Richmond-upon-Thames, giving locals a shock and TikTok users all saying the same thing. "They want to get out of the Thames, full of sewage," comments tended to repeat.

Another person added: "Poor things, they'll die from the bacteria in the sewage."

Jokers also got in on the act, asking: "Is it there by accident or on porpoise?" Someone else asked “how do they afford the rent?" It was thought that the playful animals had made their way up the river before being sighted miles inland.

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