AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- The World Wildlife Fund warned New Zealand may be the first country to drive a dolphin species to extinction, the Auckland Herald reported Wednesday.
The fund's warning follows the discovery of a second dead Hector's dolphin within 48 hours.
The butchered carcass of a Hector's dolphin was found Monday, and another dolphin was found stranded Tuesday, both in Kaikoura.
While autopsies had not been completed, a high number of dolphin deaths in recent years had been the result of fishing-related activity, said Chris Howe, the fund's New Zealand conservation director.
"The first carcass has the telltale signs of being a fishing-related death, as it has been reported in the past that drowned dolphins have been cut from nets hoping they will sink," he said.
Department of Conservation officials said the dolphin had net marks around its head, and it was not yet known whether it was already dead when it was hacked in half with a knife.
