Butchered dolphin remains found on Jersey Shore beach

Authorities are asking for the public’s help as they try to determine who butchered a dolphin found on a beach in Allenhurst last week.
The common dolphin’s organs — except for the heart and lungs — had been removed and all of its flesh had been cut with a sharp instrument, according to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.
Only the head, dorsal fin and flukes remained when workers from the stranding center arrived at the Allen Avenue Beach on Wednesday.
A night earlier, a witness reported that a live common dolphin was struggling in the surf one block away. The dolphin made it over the sandbar and swam back into the ocean. Officials are unsure if that was the same dolphin found dead.
Stranding center officials brought the dolphins remains to their Brigantine headquarters to be photographed and documented. The dolphin’s carcass was buried on the beach.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration law enforcement office is investigating.
Anyone with information is asked to call the stranding center’s 24-hour hotline at 609-266-0538.
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Jeff Goldman may be reached at [email protected].