In Argentina, a small dolphin was pulled out of the water by a group of tourists eager to take a photo with the animal. The cetacean subsequently died of dehydration.
The incident is deeply disturbing and opens the floodgates to a series of bitter reflections on the irreversible moral decay of the civilisation built by homo (self-proclaimed) sapiens. Empathy, respect, love — feelings that should be foundational to our species — evaporated beneath the warm Argentine sun, along with the last vestiges of life of a small dolphin, sacrificed on the altar of the most vacuous vanity and exhibitionism.
The incident took place in Argentina, on the beach of the Santa Teresita resort, north-west of the province of Buenos Aires. The cetacean, a specimen of Franciscana dolphin (Pontoporia blainvillei), a species classified as "vulnerable" by the Iucn, was pulled out of the water and brought onto the beach so that the crowd of tourists could take photos with it.
The animal was passed from hand to hand, from flash to flash, sending up a silent plea: "put me back in the water, that is where I belong." The people, however, whose compassion had atrophied through disuse in favour of their smartphones, did not heed it, and the dolphin died of dehydration.
This is how Paul Watson, founder and president of Sea Shepherd, the organisation that fights to protect marine wildlife worldwide, commented on the sad episode.