A juvenile has admitted to killing a dolphin with a bow and arrow in Orange Beach, Ala., according the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Law Enforcement.
NOAA announced in a news release that they had "positively identified a juvenile who admitted to shooting a bottlenose dolphin with a hunting arrow in Florida state waters."
NOAA did not say whether the nearly $25,000 reward that had been offered for information in connection to the case had been awarded, or whether the juvenile is facing any criminal charges.
NOAA agents worked with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Escambia County Sheriff's Office. Together, NOAA said, they obtained written confessions and seized the bow.
The identity of the confessed shooter is being withheld as they are underage.
The almost $25,000 reward is the most ever offered for a dolphin death in the southeast region of the United States, according to NOAA officials.
NOAA has not received tips on the pregnant dolphin that was shot and killed on Choctawhatchee Bay in Miramar Beach, just before Thanksgiving.
Anyone with information on that incident should call NOAA's enforcement office in Niceville at (850) 729-8628 or the NOAA Enforcement Hotline at 1-800-853-1964. Tips may be left anonymously and the reward, offered by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, stands at $2,500 for information leading to arrest and prosecution.
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