Despite lockdown, it seems some people are in no mood to let nature heal on its own: on Wednesday, screenshots of a horrible video showing a bunch of people torturing a baby dolphin in India’s West Bengal state began surfacing on social media.
The heart-wrenching video was first shared online by a user Rafiku Saihk. It showed a group of three men stretching and fidgeting with the snout and tail of the baby dolphin, which looked merely months old.
Later, the same user also posted a follow-up video, releasing the injured dolphin in a bloodied condition. Media reports also cited animal experts as suggesting the aquatic mammal might have died following its release.
The location where the video was shot remains unclear, but reports claim it comes from somewhere between Kolkata and Burdwan in West Bengal.
The gruesome video instigated famous Indian environmentalist Biswajit Roychowdhury to lodge an official complaint with the forest authorities in the area.
An investigation is reportedly underway.
Netizens have also expressed anguish over the video.
Often called the “doggies of water”, dolphins have begun re-appearing in different parts of the Ganges – including the Hooghly river. The Ganges dolphins have a population of about 5,000, and are found in the Ganges and its tributaries in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. The aquatic mammals are considered “critically endangered” in India and haven’t been spotted in decades.