Baby dolphin who was lifted out sea for Instagram photo-op is found dead in Florida: Teen, 19, who posted shot claims he’s receiving death threats

A baby dolphin is believed to have died after a Florida man plucked it from the sea for an Instagram photo.

The 19-year-old suspect has yet to be charged and claims the one-year-old male calf was already dead when he found it under a bridge near Nassau Sound.

But the teen, whose name was not mentioned, shared posts beforehand defending his arrest, calling the death an “accident” and a “once-in-a-lifetime” photo.

Marine biologists have since confirmed that the calf found dead on Wednesday was the same as the young fisherman in the circulating snap.

Both posts have since been deleted, but not before sparking widespread outrage and even a federal investigation. Led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the investigation has not led to charges as of Thursday.

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However, several marine biologists have confirmed this News4Jax — the first to report on the controversy — that the young dolphin seen in the sailor’s photo is the same one discovered dead days later.

The ottoman, said Dr. Quincy Gibson of the University of North Florida’s Dolphin Research Program Tuesday, is in the creature’s dorsal fins.

“The shape matches the one in the photo where the dolphin is being held,” Gibson told the North Florida outlet, after being implicated in the investigation by local wildlife officials.

Citing the internal biology that predisposes the marine animals to suffocation if they are taken out of the water, she said, “Everyone seems to agree that this is how it is and you can feel it.”

Gibson added that the photo taken by the teenager – who would later defend his actions in an interview with the outlet – was almost certainly taken under the bridge where the dead baby dolphin was found by a biologist shortly afterwards.

Another ocean expert supported Gibson’s claims, and a local fisherman added that he had seen the teen’s re-shared post online.

“I was immediately furious,” Jacksonville resident Kevin Beaugrand recalled of the now-deleted post, which screenshots show sparked a storm of reactions.

He called the decision to protect the protected critter “a crime against nature” and, like others, was particularly angry because of the dolphin’s age.

That anger came to the fore after it became clear early this week that the dolphin seen in the photo was likely to have died as a result of the man’s actions — leading to the teen taking to Instagram to bizarrely depict the incident. called ‘accident’.

“It was an accident,” the fisherman’s deleted reply once read, obtained by News4Jax, as a chorus of public opinion continued to rage. “Why do you throw so much shade.”

An onlooker then reacted angrily to the teen, citing the well-known principle that dolphins are protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, thus off limits to any aspiring fisherman.

Also on the News4Jax screen was the stern answer: “If you’re stupid enough to pull exactly a dolphin out of the water, you should stay as far away from the ocean button as possible.”

The rebuke soon led to a reply from the fisherman, appearing to brush off the dressing he had just received.

“Man whatever,” the dismissive post read, before the teen seemed to offer a reason why he was defying such well-known local laws for a mere photo opportunity.

That explanation, which has also since been scrapped, simply read: ‘Once in a lifetime to catch a dolphin as bycatch from the coast.’

The observer, who, like many others, was furious and fancied himself a fisherman, would then reply, ‘You’re giving the rest of us a bad reputation. Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you have to do it, dummy.’

He was quick to add, “Obviously you are not even remorseful for your actions. Titled punk.’

During this period of opposition, local wildlife officials turned over their investigation of the discovered dolphin corpse to NOAA and launched a full-fledged federal investigation into whether the creature had died at the hands of an outside party.

Also within that time frame, the teen in question claimed he received death threats as a result of the controversy, after a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report confirmed the discovery of the dead one-year-old male.

He also gave a brief statement to News Jax that seemed to echo some of his social media posts since then, in which he and his friends recovered the animal — which likely weighed about 40 pounds — after they found it lifeless in the water. had seen.

“We were trying to see if it was still alive, or if we could bring it back to life,” the man insisted. “We couldn’t do anything.”

Still, he proceeded to snap a photo with the unapproved catch before proudly posting the final product online, and it appears he’s smiling in the photo.

One of his companions, seen in the background, proudly raises the middle finger to the camera as his friend seemingly struggles to hold his weight.

Gibson told News4Jax it was hard to tell if the dolphin in the photo was dead, but if it was, it wasn’t that long given the condition of his skin in the photo.

She told the station Tuesday, shortly after NOAA got involved, “I think it’s very likely it died after that — but there’s a very slim chance it died recently when they picked it up in the water.”

However, the scientist was quick to add, “But based on the reports I’ve heard and the photo and the way the people in the photo are behaving, it looks like they caught him and he may have been alive at the time.” point.’

That said, the teen in the photo has yet to be charged and so has yet to be named, even though it’s still against the law to interfere with dolphins, even when they’re dead.

This is because of the Federal Marina Mammal Protection Act, which protects both live and deceased dolphins from being harassed, hunted, captured, or even handled by humans.

In addition, as several experts have made clear, dolphins like the bottlenose dolphin seen in both photos rely on buoyancy to breathe — meaning that if they are removed from their natural underwater environment, breathing becomes difficult.

If prosecuted, the man could face civil penalties of up to $34,457, as well as a year in prison and further fines.