The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service is offering a reward for information about the shooting death of a dolphin in Louisiana.
The juvenile dolphin was found on West Mae’s Beach in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, on March 13.
A posthumous examination of the marine mammal found that it had been shot, with multiple bullets lodged in its brain, heart and spinal cord, NOAA Fisheries said in a release Tuesday.
The NOAA Office of Law Enforcement is offering a reward of $20,000 for information leading to an arrest of or the levying of a civil penalty on the dolphin’s killer. Anyone with information should call (800) 853-1964, NOAA said.
Killing, harassing, harming or feeding dolphins is prohibited under federal law. Violators can be subject to civil or criminal prosecution, and face up to $100,000 in fines and a year in prison per violation.