EVERGLADES CITY, Fla. (WSVN) — Investigators are searching for whoever is responsible for killing several critically endangered fish in Florida.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Law Enforcement is offering a $20,000 reward after six sawfish were found dead in Everglades City.
According to the office of law enforcement, an employee with Everglades National Park reported the dead sawfish and two dead bonnethead sharks to NOAA experts.
Officials said the two sawfish were missing their saws, while another “had its meat removed, leaving only the carcass.”
The fish were found along the causeway between Everglades City and Chokoloskee Island. A biologist from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will perform a necropsy on the animals to try to determine how they died.
According to NOAA, smalltooth sawfish are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Originally found in the Gulf of Mexico from Texas to Florida and up the East Coast from Florida to North Carolina, their population has dwindled and is now generally only found off the coast of Florida.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call NOAA Enforcement Hotline at 1-800-853-1964. Tips may be left anonymously.
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