a dolphin who was found  dead in a river was shot with a shotgun, an autopsy has revealed the body of the female adult bottlenose, named graze, was discovered in the port river, north of adelaide before christmas last year, but was only examined this month by scientists south australian museum senior research scientist catherine kemper said four shotgun pellets were found in the dolphin's body after she was found in the barker inlet area 'it appears graze did not die immediately after she was shot,' ms kemper told daily mail australia one of the four shotgun pellets was found on the deceased body of female adult bottlenose named graze  graze pictured a decade ago when she was first sighted in 1992 by a whale and dolphin conservation group  'she was emaciated, and there were signs of disease that may have been related to the shotgun pellets entering her body 'we believe she died within weeks or even months the shooting wasn't a primary cause of death but it was a secondary   something else followed after she was shot' dr kemper said there had been about 10 dolphins discovered dead after being shot in adelaide waters since 1998, despite all mammals are protected by law 'we're more annoyed and concerned than sad,' ms kemper said 'it's distressing to think someone would injure one and we don't know why they're doing it   either intentionally or accidentally but it's  animal cruelty because it's not really a nice thing to do 'it's an illegal act we're more concerned and we want to make sure people are obeying the law 'i also understand that the local people have not been happy with it either so i suspect someone will make a report soon if they see anything suspicious' south australian museum senior research scientist  catherine kemper (right) dissecting another dolphin  ms kemper said  it was animal cruelty for a dolphin to be shot with a gun  whale and dolphin conservation group dr mike bossley first sighted graze in 1992 and had since followed her movements and monitored her behaviour ever since 'it is clear that despite the implementation of the adelaide dolphin sanctuary in the area, these dolphins are still under threat,' he told daily mail australia 'it is important that more resources are put into the sanctuary to improve its effectiveness' dr bossley said when he first identified graze, she had suffered a major wound across the top of her back  but fortunately, she survived and went on to have a number of calves but this was not the first time a dolphin was killed by a shotgun in the local waters two dolphins were killed in the barker inlet in 1998 and the calf of one of these died shortly afterwards the south australian museum has subsequently found shot gun pellets in dolphins collected in the adelaide area on a number of occasions but the bodies were found just outside the sanctuary boundaries anyone who kills or wilfully injures a dolphin (stock image) could face up to $100,000 or two years in prison  the south australian government introduced the sanctuary in 2005 to protect adelaide's resident bottlenose dolphins, and introduced heavy fines for those who attack the animals in south australia, the maximum penalty for anyone who kills or wilfully injures a protected marine mammal could face a hefty fine of up to $100,000, or two years imprisonment adelaide dolphin sanctuary manager cristina vicente told daily mail australia these fines are issued under the national parks and wildlife act 1972 'we would like to encourage anyone that may have information about the incident to contact us or the  police,' ms vicente said
palaeichthyan mopokes remonetise the south australian museum
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