As It Happens

Internet goes crazy after beach-goers kill baby dolphin for selfies

Please don't touch. That's the request from an Argentinian wildlife organization, following the death of a dolphin. It died after it was taken from the ocean so that beach-goers could take photos with it.
A baby dolphin is passed around for selfies

A baby dolphin has died, after it was plucked from the water so tourists could take selfies on a beach in Argentina. Now a local wildlife organization is trying to educate people about the vulnerable species to try to prevent other deaths.

"We saw this picture [and] we wanted to raise awareness and to tell these people to leave the dolphins alone," Verónica García of Vida Silvestre tells As It Happens host Carol Off.

Every year, hundreds of these animals, the Franciscana dolphin, die because of the nets local fisherman use.

García says the baby dolphin might have been sick and would probably have died, even if it had not been taken out of the water. But she says it doesn't excuse people interfering with a wild animal. 

"They should have just called the authorities."

One angry instagram user posted this to the social media site (Instagram: martudiiaz)

After García's organization, an arm of the World Wildlife Fund, spoke out, they were told about other dolphins being removed from the water.

One example was particularly horrifying. "A guy took a dolphin from the water to show to the public and then threw it into the garbage," says García.

Reaction online has condemned those who removed the dolphin from the water in the name of taking a great photo: