Dolphins were tied to concrete block

DIVERS have discovered the bodies of three dolphins tied by their tails to a block of concrete in a bay in the Calanques near Marseille.

The gruesome discovery was made by a team from a diving school in Cassis, Bouches-du-Rhone at a depth of 58m off the Cap de Morgiou.

Dive leader Fabienne Henry told newspaper Le Parisien they spotted something strange on the seabed and when they went closer saw it was the three mammals tied by a rope to the concrete block. She said it looked like "and adult and two young".

She said she contacted cetacean protection groups and the authorities of the new Calanques national park, which is in the process of being set up. Gendarmes were also called in.

The prefecture confirmed to the newspaper that investigators in Marseille had already started an inquiry through the Brigade de Surveillance du Littoral and the Gendarmerie Maritime. The mammals' bodies had been recovered to the surface and were going for a veterinary autopsy to try to find the cause of death.

Dolphins and other cetaceans are protected and the killers risk prison if caught, the prefecture said.