‘Butchered’ Dolphin Found On Jersey Shore Beach; Feds Investigating

ALLENHURST, NJ — Federal law enforcement is now looking for those responsible for butchering the carcass of a dolphin that washed up Wednesday on the beach in Allenhurst.

The Marine Mammal Stranding Center said it was called last Wednesday to pick up the partial remains of a dolphin on the Allen Avenue beach.

The Stranding Center called it "a very disturbing call."

"When our Stranding Coordinator arrived, he found a Common dolphin that appeared to have been butchered, " the group posted Friday on Facebook. "The animal’s flesh had been completely removed with clean cuts from a sharp instrument, leaving only the head, dorsal fin and flukes. The animal’s organs, except for the heart and lungs, had been removed."

Law enforcement officers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have taken over the case, said Sheila Dean, executive director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

NOAA declined to answer when Patch asked if there are any cameras in that area, or if NOAA is interviewing anyone of interest.

"It is long-standing NOAA practice not to comment on open investigations," said a NOAA spokeswoman Monday. "Anyone who may have information concerning this incident can call the NOAA Fisheries' Enforcement Hotline at 1-800-853-1964."

One person commented on Facebook that someone may have filleted the dolphin to use its meat as fishing bait.

Dean maintains Monday that it was an "evil person" who did this.

"My only hope is that the dolphin was already dead and did not suffer," she told Patch. "This sort of event is very disturbing to our staff. This job can make us cry every day. We just have to 'suck it up' and try to find out what happened to every animal, dead or alive."

She said it clearly was the work of a person, as the cuts to the dolphin's body were methodical and done the precision. The dolphin was "not decayed at all and the heart and lungs were still intact. I have never have seen this in my 50 years of strandings," she wrote.

On Tuesday night, the night before the butchered dolphin was discovered, a live Common dolphin was reported struggling in the surf one block away in Allenhurst.

"Witnesses reported that the dolphin was able to make it over the sandbar and swam back out. It is unknown if this was the same animal," the Marine Mammal Stranding Center wrote.

The public is asked to call Marine Mammal Stranding Center's 24-hour hotline if they have any information: (609) 266-0538.