Recent tragic news inform us that a rare baby dolphin dies after tourists use in for selfies, in Argentina. The Franciscana dolphin died earlier this month after a group of beach-goers apparently took it out of the ocean, then surrounded and handled it, according to Vida Silvestre, a wildlife foundation in Argentina.

It is obvious that we live in a very selfie obsessed culture, as social media sites are flooded with them. Many believe that is a sign that our social media culture has become increasingly narcissistic.

From a pop psychology perspective, the textbook definition of narcissism is fairly harmless, described as ‘extreme selfishness, with a grandiose view of one’s own talents and a craving for admiration, as characterizing a personality type.’

A tragic event on an Argentinian beach has revealed another incident where selfies have gone too far.

According to Ubergizmo, the baby Franciscana dolphin was scooped out of the water by tourists at a beach in Argentina, who wanted to take a selfie with it.  This caused a crowd to form, filled with others who wanted to get a selfie with the baby dolphin for themselves.

However, these people didn’t know that although dolphins are mammals and air-breathers, they will die if they are taken out of water. Franciscana dolphins have a thick and greasy skin that makes them prone to overheating when they remain out of water for an extended period of time.

To add insult to injury, the Franciscana dolphins are also an endangered species. Also known as La Plata dolphins, they are only found in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, and fewer than 30,000 of them remain in the wild.  They are the only type of river dolphin that can inhabit saltwater, and the primary threat to the La Plata is gill nets, which are known to drown, injure, or attach to marine mammals, causing extreme fatigue.

Furthermore, video of the footage shows that no one intervened or attempted to return the animal to the water, and it looks like the baby dolphin was just left in the mud presumably after it had passed away.

To make matters even worse, in the most insensitive act of self-defense, the man who took the video claims the dolphin was already dead before people took it out of the ocean. If that’s the case, we really need to take a moment and think about this nonsensical selfie mania that people around the world have caught on to.

However, many people did express anger over the incident on social media, calling for stricter laws for animal abuse. The Argentine Wildlife Foundation (AWF) has released a statement urging people to return dolphins encountered near the shore to ocean waters, in order that this situation not repeat.

Moreover, this selfie disease is across the board, not just in Argentina. In India last year, a 42-feet-long blue whale was washed ashore at the Revdanda coast. Instead of trying to call for help, people started taking selfies with the animal as it suffered till its last breath.

There’s probably no way to conclude an article about this except by saying that selfies can be downright inappropriate at times.  In this case, it resulted in the death of a member of an endangered species.  This is one of those times that you hope there was at least one person in the crowd who was willing to stand up and say: ‘enough is enough’.

 

Image Source: inquisitr.com.