Federal authorities are offering $20,000 to whoever can identify the person behind the fatal shooting of a dolphin that washed up dead on a Louisiana shore last month. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the grisly discovery on Tuesday, writing in a statement that a necropsy revealed the poor animal had “multiple” bullets lodged inside of it and that its injuries were “consistent with being shot with a firearm.” Those bullets were recovered in the dolphin’s brain, spinal cord, and heart—a trifecta of injuries it ultimately couldn’t overcome, NOAA said. If the perpetrator is found and convicted of breaking the Marine Mammal Protection Act, they could spend up to a year in jail per violation and be on the hook for up to $100,000 in fines. The mammal was recovered on March 13 on West Mae’s Beach in Cameron Parish—a rural area about four hours west of New Orleans that’s near the Texas state line.
