This Dolphin Tragically Died Because of Selfies. Here's How

Argentina Travel

by Cathy Brown Feb 19, 2016

SERIOUSLY, HUMANITY? This is a shining example of beach tourism in its ugliest form.

Last week, a young Franciscana dolphin was killed on a beach in Argentina because of rough handling by beachgoers looking for a selfie with the animal.

Two dolphins were reportedly taken from the water so people could take photos with them.

Documentation from some of the photos show one of the dolphins surrounded by a crowd of beachgoers, out of the water and completely unprotected from the hot sun. One died as a result.

“[Dolphins] can not remain long above water,” an environmentalist from the Vida Silvestre Foundation wrote online in response to the incident. “They have very thick and greasy skin that provides warmth, so the weather will quickly cause dehydration and death.”

To make a bad situation even worse, Franciscana dolphins are actually listed as a “vulnerable” species, found only in the waters of southeastern South America.