Horrific footage appears to show illegal migrants in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta capturing a young dolphin swimming in shallow waters, hitting it with a stick and possibly killing it.
The video shared online shows a group of men crowd around the animal and lift it above their heads like a trophy as onlookers cheer – before enraged locals confront them.
One of the locals shouts 'No! No! No!' before warning the migrants that it is illegal to touch or eat it.
An online petition has been launched demanding those responsible are identified and brought before the courts.
The group of men are thought to be among the estimated 72,500 migrants who swam over the border from Morocco into the Spanish enclave in North Africa in July. Although most have returned, around 5,000 are believed to remain on the streets and beaches.
The dolphin calf is thought to have been swimming close to the shore before being pulled from the water and struck on the head with a stick by one of the group, according to local newspaper El Faro de Ceuta.
The paper said a local worker witnessed the incident and intervened, telling the group not to hit or handle the animal and to call an animal rescue service.
Nadia Garcia Gomez, who launched the petition, said in a post alongside a photo of one of the migrants holding up the calf: 'On Wednesday, September 2, 2026, a disoriented dolphin calf swimming near the shore at Trampolin Beach, in Ceuta, was brutally pulled from the water.
The disturbing moment a group of migrants on a Ceuta beach hold up a dolphin calf above their heads as if it were a trophy after allegedly hitting it over the head with a stick
Enraged locals argued with the men as they surrounded the animal, with one warning them it was illegal to touch it and 'eat it'
'Witnesses and local media reported that the animal was handled as if it were an object and violently struck on the head with a stick, causing its immediate death.
'The shocking images shared on social media show those responsible displaying the cetacean's lifeless body as if it were a trophy.
'This act of extreme and unjustifiable cruelty cannot go unpunished.
'Dolphins are strictly protected species under Spanish and European laws, and mistreatment of them constitutes a serious criminal offence.'
Referring to the Civil Guard's specialised environmental protection unit called Seprona, she added: 'Therefore, we are launching this petition to demand that the Government Delegation in Ceuta, the Department of the Environment and Seprona act with the utmost urgency.
'We demand that all necessary resources be used to formally identify those involved in this killing and that the full weight of the law fall upon them, applying the maximum penalties for the crime of animal abuse resulting in death.'
A Spaniard who tried to intervene could be overheard shouting: 'They've just caught a dolphin, that's a dolphin, you can't touch it.'
The man yelled as two of the men lifted the animal above their heads and were egged on by others cheering and laughing behind them: 'No, no, no, you can't do that, you can't do that, sons of b*****s.'
Although it wasn't immediately clear what the intentions of the migrants were, he added: 'It's a dolphin. You can't eat it.'
The migrants signalled to him that the dolphin was dead, with one making a throat-slitting gesture with his hand, although one of the group appeared to try to return it to the water despite its condition.
The Spaniard raged as he left the beach after claims by the North Africans they weren't to blame for its apparent death: 'The beach has miraculously killed a dolphin, with blood on its head.
A man later holds the dolphin above his head as he carries it over breakwater blocks
A Spaniard who tried to intervene could be overheard shouting: 'They've just caught a dolphin, that's a dolphin, you can't touch it'
'There you have it, they've killed a protected species and a baby dolphin on top of this.'
A group of young migrants were later filmed taking the animal behind the breakwater blocks on the beach, which was turned into a makeshift camp following the mass border breach in July.
It was not clear today what had happened to the dolphin.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets on Wednesday across Spain to show their support for Ceuta and protest at the government's handling of the ongoing crisis.
Although most of the migrants who swam into Ceuta returned home shortly afterwards, thousands remained and many are sleeping rough because there is no room for them in temporary holding centres.
Ceuta and Melilla, another Spanish North African enclave 250 miles east along Morocco's northern Mediterranean coast, have the EU's only two land borders with Africa.
Yesterday it emerged that a Spanish woman living in Ceuta had been arrested after allegedly stabbing a man believed to be a Moroccan migrant inside her home.
Police have revealed the victim was 'undocumented' and was believed to be aged between 25 and 30.
He has been described as a cousin of the alleged killer.
On Monday prosecutors in Ceuta revealed 23 alleged sexual assaults including five rapes have been reported since thousands of migrants spilled over the Moroccan border.
Nine of the alleged victims are female children and teenagers aged between 14 and 17 and another is a gay man, officials said.
Eight men are being investigated, four Moroccans, three Spaniards and a Belgian national, but in the rest of the cases no one has been arrested or identified.