Wildlife Officials Probe Dolphin Death
Posted on: Wednesday, 20 June 2007, 18:00 CDT
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.
Source: United Press International
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