This disturbing picture shows one of two Franciscana dolphins that were pulled from the water by bathers at an Argentinan resort and then passed around for pictures and petting. The crowd continues to manhandle the dolphins until one died and was just discarded on the sand by these thoughtless swimmers and beachgoers. The Franciscana dolphins have been diminishing in number.
One of those handling the dolphins insisted that the one left on the beach was already dead, though that makes these selfies even more creepy. Animal advocates insisted that “at least one of the intelligent, playful cetaceans died from the experience.” Those dozens of people took happy pictures of a dying dolphin just feet away from the water that would have save it.
The Franciscana, or La Plata, dolphins are particularly vulnerable outside of the water. Only around 30,000 of the La Plata dolphins remain in the wild and can live to be 20 years old. So long as they are not passed around like a gap prop for selfies.
I saw on tv dolphins are even smarter than ppl. So if the had arms and legs or just arms and technology could work under water….ok. If they had lungs they’d be higher than us in the food chain of whose in charge.
fnn, that was a great point that the “Argentinian Pope (who claims to be pro-animal) needs to speak out on this” because in this case “opening his yap might actually do some good by altering future behavior.” In California, they have laws expressly prohibiting human contact with seals, for example, such as on the beaches of La Jolla, that would prevent this kind of selfish, thoughtless, and harmful behavior. But in the absence of such laws, there needs to be some moral authority from some respected sources. Unfortunately, the Pope doesn’t really care about animals, except as it promotes the Church’s political objectives. Similarly, PETA and all of the Hollywood crowd that pretend to care about animals are conspicuously silent. That’s because hypocrisy is almost as big a problem as the selfish, thoughtless, and harmful human behavior.
People need brains.
The Argentinian Pope (who claims to be pro-animal) needs to speak out on this. This is a situation where opening his yap might actually do some good by altering future behavior.
http://www.snopes.com/2016/02/18/dolphin-killed-by-beachgoers/
So far, according to Snopes, this did happen. There is some discussion about their being a mass die-off, because there are reports of dead dolphins washing up on the beach. Even if this was true, hauling the dolphin out of the water was the opposite of what they should have done. It makes the heavily insulated animal overheat and get dehydrated, and it is also uncomfortable, as they are not used to supporting their own weight.
I do not know if they have any marine mammal rescue organizations in Argentina. If not, and if the animals were in distress already, then what the crowd did was make a bad situation worse. They may have loved this little animal to death.
Of course, dolphins and other cetaceans tend to follow pod mates, even to the extreme. If the dolphin’s dam died and washed up, the baby would have followed her. Sometimes, when a pilot whale gets beached, the entire pod beaches. I don’t know if that’s out of a vain attempt to help or just not wanting to be alone.
I have grave concerns about the amount of toxins we’ve managed to dump in the oceans. There have been massive die offs before of marine mammals and fish. We need to clean up our acts and stop polluting.
Here is more on the La Plata dolphin, which is special not only because of its diminutive size, but also because it has the rare talent of thriving in both fresh and salt water.
http://www.dolphins-world.com/la-plata-river-dolphin/
Used to be taking a photo of something was done with artistic care and some distance. Then you have tourists who photo everything and perhaps see nothing. Last Fall in Paris, Venice, and Rome there were hordes of tourists walking around taking pictures of themselves. There were more visitors occupied with their own faces than with the beauty they had supposedly come to see. Somehow this level of narcissism is somewhat disturbing.
Snopes advised! We are in trouble when the law profs get duped by their outrage-motivated bias.