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| A rare baby river dolphin was passed around for selfies at Santa Teresita beach in Argentina. Photo credit: Hernan Coria |
SANTA TERESITA, Argentina – A rare baby dolphin was not killed by tourists taking selfies at a beach in Argentina but had washed ashore already dead, according to Hernan Coria who took the photos of the dolphin surrounded by a crowd that have since gone viral on social media.
In videos posted on social media, people in the crowd could be heard shouting “Take it back to the water!” – which gave the impression that the dolphin was still alive.
“It was already dead when it washed up,” Coria said to Telefe Noticias. The crowd took it back to the water but it wouldn’t go back out.”
The baby dolphin was a rare river dolphin known as the La Plata dolphin or Franciscana. It is the only species in its genus, and is often placed in its own family, the Pontoporiidae. Only 30,000 are estimated to still exist worldwide, 14,000 of which inhabit Argentina.
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