WATCH: Tourist Hauls Stranded Dolphin off Beach in South China

By Matthew Bossons, May 4, 2018

Authorities in South China are working to identify and locate a man filmed hauling a dying dolphin off a Guangdong beach over the Labor Day holiday, which ran from April 29 to May 1.

In the video, a man in black swim-trunks can be seen carrying a dolphin – which is casually flung over his shoulder – down the beach as an unidentified woman follows behind him. The troubling incident occurred on Hailing Island, according to a heavily-cited Btime.com article.

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Understandably, authorities are less than impressed with the cetacean-snatching man – who is thought to have been a visitor to the island.

“We received reports from witnesses saying there was a dolphin that had got stranded on the beach and looked like it was about to die when it was found,” a fisheries official told Btime.com. “The man, thought to be a tourist on the island, was then seen to have carried the dolphin away on his car.

“Dolphins are protected animals. Whether it was dead or alive, he should have called authorities for help.”

While it’s unclear exactly which species of dolphin is shown in the video, staff at the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society told That’s that the cetacean looks like a melon-headed whale or false killer whale, both members of the oceanic dolphin family.

Netizens were predictably upset with the poorly behaved tourist, with one user quoted in a South China Morning Post article writing: “These people are like savages. They should be punished and made to pay hundreds of thousands of yuan.”

Another commented: "This guy is sick in the head and should seek treatment."

Hailing Island is located near the city of Yangjiang in Guangdong province, roughly a five-hour drive from Shenzhen. From 2005-2007 the island was named one of the most beautiful islands in China by Chinese National Geography magazine. Hailing is near Shangchuan Island, where in 2017 a juvenile finless porpoise was found dead on a relatively desolate stretch of coastline on the east side of the island.

UPDATE (May 4, 2018 at 4.50pm CST): This article has been updated to include additional information from the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society.

[Images via QQ Video]