A $20,000 reward is being offered for information leading to whoever was responsible for fatally shooting a bottlenose dolphin found riddled with bullets on a Louisiana beach last month.
The dead juvenile dolphin was spotted by a person on March 13 on West Mae’s Beach in Cameron Parish, according to a Tuesday statement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, also known as NOAA.
The dolphin had “injuries consistent with being shot with a firearm,” the NOAA said.
NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement is investigating the dolphin’s death, the organization said.
After the dolphin was found on the beach, the animal was reported to the Southeast Marine Mammal Stranding Hotline, the NOAA said. Then the NOAA worked with a partner, the Audubon Aquarium Rescue, which transported it to the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans, for a necropsy, an autopsy for an animal, the NOAA said.
The necropsy showed “multiple bullets lodged in the carcass, including in the brain, spinal cord, and heart of the dolphin. The animal appeared to have died from the trauma, which occurred at or near the time of death,” according to the NOAA.
The reward money is for “information leading to a criminal conviction or the assessment of a civil penalty,” the NOAA said.
Anyone with information about this incident is urged to call the NOAA Enforcement Hotline at (800) 853-1964.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com