Today's Article

“I was immediately 2enraged.” 

Beaugrand is a surfer and bartender who lives in Jacksonville Beach. He says he wanted to do something when he saw the picture. 

“It's a crime against nature.” 

According to the 3National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, feeding or 4harassing dolphins 5violates the 6Marine Mammals Protection Act.

It's against the law to 7disturb their 8behavioral patterns or injure them 9in the wild. Jacksonville University Marine Science Professor Dr. Quinton White says holding a dolphin out of the water could hurt them. 

“The dolphin was probably ill to be caught like that and to put that kind of stress on an animal really is 10horrific.”

He says marine mammals need 11buoyancy to breathe, so hoisting a dolphin out of the water can make it really difficult for them to 12draw breath. 

“It may not survive. You didn't mean to do that, and we won't know probably for a while whether it made it or not. So, it was pretty horrific when I saw it. A lot of animals, people don't realize that they catch them, and they, ‘Oh, I want to take pictures’ and they put them back in the water and they die because they're not used to being out of the water. 

Beaugrand reported the photo to several agencies. NOAA and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are now investigating. If 13prosecuted, 14violators of the Marine Mammal Protection Act could 15face 16civil penalties up to about $34,000 or criminal 17fines and up to a year in prison.