A photo posted on Instagram of a man holding a baby dolphin on a beach near Jacksonville has sparked outrage and a state wildlife investigation.
Marine biologists said it was hard to tell if the dolphin was alive when the photo was taken just by looking at it. Removing a dolphin from the water can cause it to suffer fatal injuries.
Authorities believe the 1-year-old male calf is the same one reported dead last week by a biologist.
It's against federal law to interfere with dolphins, even if they're dead.
An expert believes the baby dolphin was likely alive when the man picked it up.
"There is a very small chance that it was deceased recently when they picked it up in the water, but based off of the reports that I've heard and the photo and the way that the people are behaving in the photo, it makes it seem like they did catch it and it was potentially alive at that point," said Dr. Quicny Gibson, associate professor of coastal and marine biology at UNF.
