Fl: Baby dolphin believed to be dead after man picks it up for photo
JACKSONVILLE -- A baby dolphin is believed to be dead after a man in Florida picked it up for an Instagram photo.
Right now, the people involved are not facing criminal charges.
Two marine biologists told news4jax it's hard to tell if the dolphin was alive when the photo was taken just by looking at the image, but if the dolphin was dead, they said, it wouldn't have been for long.
Dr. Quincy Gibson is with the University of North Florida's Dolphin Research Program, so when a dolphin winds up dead, Florida Wildlife investigators loop her in.
Dr. Gibson says she was notified of the death Wednesday when what appears to be a one-year-old male calf was reported dead by a biologist in Nassau County, in the same area the photo was posted.
But in a new photo taken by investigators, the dolphin is seen bloated and bleeding around its mouth, which Dr. Gibson says is part of the decomposition process.
When asked what are the odds of the Dolphin dying from the photo being taken, Gibson responded.
"From what I've heard, everyone seems to be in agreement that it is and you can tell." said Gibson.
Dr. Gibson says you can tell by the dorsal fin because each one is unique.
"And so the shape matches the one in the photo where the dolphin's being held, so highly likely." added Gibson.
Amid social media backlash, the person seen holding the dolphin in the photo has posted multiple times it was an accident, at one point saying, "what ever once in a lifetime to catch a dolphin as bycatch from the shore."
"I think it's highly likely that it died after but there is a very small chance that it was deceased recently when they picked it up in the water, but based off of the reports that I've heard and the photo and the way that the people are behaving in the photo, it makes it seem like they did catch it and it was potentially alive at that point."
Experts say removing dolphins from the buoyancy of the water can result in them being crushed by the weight of their own bodies.
Experienced fishermen like Anthony walker say they thought people knew not to mess with dolphins.
"When you break the law, you've got consequences. that what the law made for." said Walker.
It's against the Federal Marina Mammal Protection Act to interfere with dolphins, even if they're dead.