COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. (WBBH/NBC) – Wildlife officials are offering a $20,000 reward to find out who is responsible for killing dolphins off Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Captain John Vest has been a charter fisherman out of Bonita Springs for the past 20 years. He knows out on the water, dolphins are a common occurrence. “Almost daily whenever we are out there, we see them all the time,” he said. “Sometimes they come up to the boat, sometimes they don’t.”
But when they do approach boats, it’s usually because they’re looking for an easy meal. That’s a problem for some anglers. Vest explained, “They think they are going to scare the fish away for one thing. They do hang around sometimes when you release a fish and you’ll see the dolphin chase after it. ”
That fact is leaving some wondering if it’s fishermen targeting the dolphins for taking a bite of their livelihood.
Less than two weeks ago, a dolphin was found dead on Naples Beach with a horrific wound in its head. Stacey Horstman with NOAA said, “What we know is based on the location and the trajectory of the wound. This dolphin was likely in the begging posture.” And it wasn’t the first in Florida waters.
Last may another dead dolphin was found with a similar injury off of Captiva. Both, NOAA says were caused by humans.
Now, NOAA is offering $20,000 to anyone with info leading to a conviction for the brutal deaths of these protected animals.
NOAA is urging people not to feed dolphins out on the water to avoid this from happening again.
The penalty for someone convicted of killing a bottlenose dolphin can be a fine of up to $100,000 dollars and a year in jail.
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