Dead dolphin had eaten 2-foot plastic shower hose

A dolphin that died on a Florida beach was found with a bellyful of trash, including a two-foot-long plastic shower hose.

The male bottlenose dolphin was stranded on a beach in Fort Myers, Fla., earlier this month, the Fort Myers News-Press reported last week. 

A post-mortem exam was performed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWC), it added.{mosads}

A 24-inch plastic shower hose was discovered in its stomach, complete with a nozzle and metal radiator clamp, the outlet noted. It appeared to belong to a camping rig.

It was the second dolphin that died on the beach this month with trash in their stomach, the newspaper noted.

A female rough-toothed dolphin calf was also reportedly found to have two plastic bags and a balloon fragment in her stomach.

The FWC urged local residents to take responsibility for trash on the beach and participate in clean-ups.

Marine mammals that strand on shore are often sick or injured, so the group urged beachgoers to call experts to respond rather than push an animal back into the water.