Mutilated dolphins found off the Gulf Coast
Bottlenose dolphins swim ahead of the bow of a boat off the southern California coast near Dana Point, California.
Someone does not like dolphins. Over the past several months, dolphins have washed ashore along the Gulf Coast with bullet wounds, missing jaws and hacked off fins, the Associated Press reported.
"There have been some obviously intentional cases," Erin Fougeres of The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told BBC News.
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In one particularly grotesque example, a dolphin was found with a screwdriver in his head, the AP reported.
Officials are disturbed by the discoveries, and the NOAA has appointed enforcement officer Richard Stifel to investigate the mutilations, the Sun Herald reported. "He's collecting evidence," Moby Solangi, executive director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, told the Sun Herald. "NOAA is taking this very seriously."