Alabama man charged in Mississippi with shooting dolphin with shotgun

MISSISSIPPI -- An initial appearance is scheduled Tuesday in Mississippi for a commercial fisherman from Alabama charged with shooting a dolphin with a shotgun.

Brent Buchanan of Bayou La Batre, Ala., was charged Dec. 5 in U.S. District Court in Gulfport, Miss., with one count of illegally taking a marine mammal in federal waters.

Taking can mean harassing, hunting, capturing or killing.

He was charged in a bill of criminal information, a charge that generally means a defendant has agreed to waive indictment and plead guilty.

The court record says he shot the dolphin in the Mississippi Sound from his boat, the F/V Seaweed 2000, in July or August 2012.

The court website did not list an attorney.

(Gulf Live - Dec 9, 2013)