Shock as dead dolphin vandalised with graffiti on Dublin beach

"Who in their right mind would have it in them to do something like that?"

Warning: some readers may find the content of this story upsetting. A Dublin based photographer was left in shock following the discovery of a dead dolphin that had been vandalised with graffiti on Monday night (16 May). The Instagram account Myviewofireland posted the upsetting images to their story with the caption "how f*****g low can people actually stoop to, absolute scumbags!". The admin of the account spoke to JOE about their experience of finding the animal. "It was last night, I went out to catch the lunar eclipse so I went out to Poolbeg to watch it down on the beach," the admin said. "I was walking along the beach and noticed the dolphin. It's only when I got closer to it that I could see it was a dolphin. "That's when I saw the graffiti and the spray paint all over it. I was a bit shocked, I'm still in awe at the minute. "It has me thinking who in their right mind would have it in them to do something like that? Especially an animal, there's nothing they can do." In a statement to JOE, Pádraic Fogarty, Campaign Officer with Irish Wildlife Trust said: "It's an appalling image - firstly because so many dolphins and whales are washing up on our shores in recent years but also that there seems to be so little empathy for this. "Dolphins are highly intelligent creatures with complex social lives yet we have so little appreciation for them. "The photo is symbolic in many ways of our indifference towards the collapse of the natural world around us."