Baby Dolphin Dies After Being Passed Around For Selfies

A bunch of beachgoers in Argentina last week inadvertently killed an endangered baby dolphin when they scooped it out of the ocean and started taking pictures of it.

GRAPHIC VIDEO: A baby dolphin has died after being passed around for selfies in Argentina https://t.co/LdRwOMsKrq pic.twitter.com/4LsyCvFNoF

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) February 18, 2016

Vida Silvestre, the local arm of the World Wildlife Fund, claims that tourists in the town of Santa Teresita found the dolphin in the ocean and brought it ashore, passing it around the smartphone-brandishing crowd. It later died. The dolphin was a Franciscana dolphin, which is a species that gets particularly weak when removed from the water from extended periods.

The diminutive dolphin species grows to be slightly longer than five feet long, and it’s classified as “vulnerable.” According to Vida Silvestre, there are fewer than 30,000 individuals in the wild. The organization claims that it’s unlikely the species will recover.

Actor & comedian Ricky Gervais, who has often been outspoken on animal rights, made his thoughts brutally clear on twitter: 

Stupid Cunts. https://t.co/xttxNcIXB1

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) February 18, 2016

 Put the dolphin back in the water. The selfie’s not worth it.

- Gizmodo.com