A baby dolphin died after being surrounded by tourists in southern Spain.
The female dolphin, who was still of breast-feeding age, had gotten lost or been stranded by its mother, turning up on a beach in Mojacar that was full of tourists on August 11.
Equinac, a local NGO, said hundreds of people rushed to take pictures.
It said that dolphins are likely to become highly stressed when people crowd it to take pictures.
They also pointed out that many people don’t know how to properly handle a dolphin; one picture shows the blowhole being covered while someone is petting it.
“Once again we note that the human being is the most irrational species that exists, there are many incapable of empathy for a living being alone, scared, starved, without his mother and terrified, because many of you, in your selfishness,” the organization said in a Facebook post.
“All you want is to photograph and poke, even if the animal suffers from stress.
The baby dolphin died before marine conservationists could tend to it.
While the NGO clarified that the tourists who touched it weren’t the cause of death, it also said they didn’t help.
“This offspring ranged from being sick or losing her mother, without which he can not survive, but crowding him to photograph and touch him, of course that causes these animals to enter a state of very high stress,” the organization explained.
If you see a stranded dolphin, you should report it rather than trying to touch it, the organization said.
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