It takes nothing to go so low and kill a beautiful creature of nature for the sake of fun
Suppose you are roaming around the beach and suddenly you observe a beautiful creature swimming along the shoreline. What would you do? Admire the beauty of nature and sea life, or take it out and start taking selfies until the time that the poor animal dies? Normal people opt for the former option while there are some selfie crazy people who choose the latter one. This story is about the other, unreasonable kind of people.
The News:
Last week in Santa Teresita, Buenos Aires, Argentina, a young Franciscana dolphin died due to severe ‘rough handling’ and dehydration. The reason– selfie crazy tourists pulled it out of the ocean along with another dolphin for the sake of taking pictures and making videos. The pictures were then shamelessly posted on social media.
Image Source: CEN/Hernan Coria
The little dolphin couldn’t bear the heat from the hot, scorching the sun and of course, the selfie hungry crowd’s mishandling and died.
Vida Silvestre Foundation’s environmentalist confirmed that the animal has died and explained the reason behind the death of the dolphin in an online post that read:
“[Dolphins] cannot remain long above water. They have very thick and greasy skin that provides warmth, so the weather will quickly cause dehydration and death.”
Currently, it is unclear whether the other dolphin survived this torment or not. However, a public reminder notice has been issued by the Argentinian Wildlife Foundation regarding the vulnerable nature of Franciscana dolphins.
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Franciscana Dolphins:
Franciscana or Plata Dolphins are mostly found in the southeastern South American waters and can only grow up to 5feet in length. The species has been named after its brown colored skin, which is akin to Franciscan monks. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified it as a highly “vulnerable” and rare species. It must be noted that only 30,000 of these dolphins are left in the world. Therefore, the conservation of this species is really important for environmentalists.
The reason why the poor dolphins were captured by the crowd so easily was that these swim closer to the shoreline. That’s why these dolphins often get tangled into fishing equipment too.
It is being reported by Vida Silvestre that lately these dolphins were taken out from the waters for public spectacle at least twice. People wanted to hold them, take pictures and make videos for posting on Facebook. In a report from the BBC, it was identified that the images that were posted online showed dozens of excited people taking pictures with the baby dolphin. These images depicted people stroking the dolphin and even treating it like a pet.
Also, the videos captured on the spot have been posted on YouTube, which shows how people plucked out the poor animal from the water and played with it on the beach. Since these dolphins cannot stay out of water for a long time as these get dehydrated quickly, therefore, one of the dolphins met a devastating fate. What happened to the other, stills remains a mystery.
This news piece shows the extent to which Selfie craze can push people.
