Probe ordered into death of four dolphins in Aegean
The Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation filed a criminal complaint that has prompted an investigation into the death of four dolphins whose bodies washed up on the shores of Samos in the eastern Aegean Sea.
The complaint was lodged in May and the official probe was ordered on Wednesday by the Athens Prosecutor’s Office.
The incidents took place in an area of significant activity for large Greek and Turkish fishing vessels, while injuries on the dolphins’ bodies indicated that they may have been deliberately mutilated.
The director of the Archipelagos Institute, Thodoris Tsimpidis, told state broadcaster ERT that the actual number of dolphins possibly killed by collisions with these vessels is likely “much higher,” as there are documented instances of fishing crews poking holes into the bodies of dead marine mammals to make them sink.
“Justice must deal with environmental crimes so no wild animal killing – neither on land nor at sea – goes unpunished,” he stressed.
