Wildlife Officials Probe Dolphin Death

Wildlife officials in Key Largo are looking into whether the discovery of a detached goat’s head might be linked to the sudden death of a newborn dolphin.

Castaway, a deaf dolphin rescued off Vero Beach last year, gave birth to the healthy calf June 11 at the Maritime Mammal Conservancy.

Dolphin caretakers found a goat’s head in the water with its jaw wired shut four days later — the same morning the calf died — The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Wednesday.

Conservancy chief Robert Lingenfelser said the all-volunteer hospital has come under fire by critics who don’t like the way its members rescue and treat marine mammals.

While marine experts maintain the mortality rate for first-born baby dolphins is generally high, Lingenfelser said he hasn’t ruled out the possibility the goat’s head might have been poisoned and left as a grisly warning for the center to cease its work — or that it was all simply a sick joke.

The National Marine Fisheries Service’s Office of Law Enforcement is investigating, although there has been no evidence of foul play.

The results of a necropsy and toxicology tests won’t be back for several weeks.