High numbers of dolphins washing up on Gulf Coast mutilated with gunshots, knife wounds and missing jaws

Alert issued for attacks in waters off Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama



Bodies of dolphins found mutilated with gunshot wounds, cuts and missing jaws has launched an investigation by officials into the attacks covering the northern Gulf of Mexico.



The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has issued a 'heads up' for officials to be on the alert for the barbaric attacks in waters spanning Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.



'We think there's someone or some group on a rampage,' Moby Solangi, executive director of Institute for Marine Mammal Studies told the Sun Herald. 'They not only kill them but also mutilate them.'

Slain: A horrific photo of a dead bottlenose dolphin taken in late September in Louisiana shows it after shot on Elmer's Island

To one carcass found with its tail cut off in Louisiana, Mr Solangi said: 'Animals don't eat each other's tails off.'



The resulting scene has speckled parts of the Gulf since earlier this year with bodies, though in recent months the IMMS says they’ve increased.



In one case a carcass was found stabbed with a screwdriver in Alabama and in another on Elmer's Island, Louisiana a bullet was found in its lung in September.



On Friday, a team went to Deer Island and found a second dolphin dead with a portion of his jaw missing. A dolphin found dead earlier near Gautier's coastline had a 9mm bullet wound.



Attacks: Bodies of dolphins found with gunshot wounds, slashes, missing jaws and in one case a stabbing by a screw driver has launched an investigation along the Gulf of Mexico (file photo)

'This is not an ordinary person who is doing it,' Mr Solangi told the Herald.



He hopes awareness of the attacks will spread among shrimp boats on the Mississippi Sound day and night.



'I think we need our fishermen friends to find these guys,' he said.

Details into how the dolphins are being attacked is not known while officials warn that one harm in humans feeding them is the resulting encouragement of close contact.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society is offering a $1,500 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person or people who shot the dolphin in September.



Increasing: The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, seen during an unrelated dolphin rescue, says that the barbaric attacks have increased lately while having first seen early this year



