ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — The City of Orange Beach may increase a reward amount offered for information about a dolphin fatally wounded by an arrow in the city. That pending reward addition would bring the total amount to $10,000. 

NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement is investigating a second human related dolphin death in the Northern Gulf of Mexico in just two weeks. A dolphin stranded dead over the weekend in Orange Beach, this time with a hunting arrow in its side. 

The dead dolphin was discovered in Terry Cove, between Sportsman Marina and Hudson Marina in Orange Beach, according to NOAA investigators.

Orange Beach city commissioners on Monday discussed to match an original reward amount of $5,000 from the Humane Society of the United States for information leading to identification and prosecution of the shooter or shooters. The funding is not yet released pending legal clearance from city attorney staff.

Preliminary results of a necropsy, or non-human autopsy, suggest the dolphin lived with the arrow in its side for at least five days before eventually dying from a from a secondary infection caused by the wound. 

A pregnant dolphin was shot and killed two weeks ago along the Florida panhandle, on Chactoawhatchee Bay in Miramar Beach. That animal was within days of giving birth, according to NOAA officers.

A separate reward amount of $2,500 was initially posted for information about that dolphin killing.

NOAA officials seek information from anyone with details of this incident. Please call NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement in Niceville, Fla., at 850-729-8628 or the NOAA Enforcement Hotline at 1-800-853-1964 as soon as possible. Tips may be left anonymously. 

People can help prevent future harm to wild dolphins by not feeding or attempting to feed them. Dolphins fed by people learn to associate people with food, causing them to remove bait and catch directly from recreational and commercial fishing gear. They then teach these behaviors to their young. This is frustrating to fishermen and has led to an increase in human violence towards dolphins, including retaliation by fishermen frustrated by dolphins taking their bait and catch. 

Harassing, harming, killing or feeding wild dolphins is prohibited under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. Violations can be prosecuted either civilly or criminally and are punishable by up to $100,000 in fines and up to one year in jail per violation. 

To report a stranded, injured or sick dolphin, call 1-877-WHALE-HELP (1-877-942-5343).

NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources.