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Migrants filmed holding baby dolphin aloft in Ceuta

Video footage shows a group of men with a dolphin calf on a Spanish enclave beach, prompting an environmental complaint.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
The disturbing moment a group of migrants on a Ceuta beach hold up a dolphin calf above their heads as if it were a trophy after allegedly hitting it over the head with a stick

What this story says

  • Video footage shows a group of migrants on a beach in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta holding a baby dolphin aloft.
  • The incident occurred at Trampolín beach.
  • Environmental organisation DAUBMA has filed a complaint with the Civil Guard.
  • Local outlet El Faro de Ceuta verified the footage of the incident.

Who covered it

Left 0%(0)Centre 18%(2)Right 82%(9)

Percentages are shares of the 11 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 4 of the 15 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

46/100

Craft

71/100

Hype

55/100

15 sources · methodology

Thin on the left so far

None of the 11 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

Video footage from Ceuta shows a group of people pulling a baby dolphin from the water and holding it up on the beach. The incident took place on Trampolín beach in the Spanish enclave. The environmental organisation DAUBMA has filed a complaint with the Civil Guard concerning the death of the dolphin calf. El Faro de Ceuta, a local publication, verified the video footage.

Disagreement on the dolphin's death

Daily Mail reported that the dolphin calf was pulled from the water and struck on the head with a stick, causing its death. Internewscast stated that the dolphin was tragically killed after being struck by individuals crossing illegally. The Daily Wire reported that the animal was pulled from the water and struck in the head with a stick. Modernity.news reported that one of the men bludgeoned it in the head with a stick. The Daily Express and The US Sun reported that the dolphin was beaten to death. However, the digest from Fox News stated that the dolphin calf was hit and possibly killed. The digest from WWBL and wfmd.com stated that the dolphin was hit and possibly killed. The digest from Libertad Digital stated that a group of immigrants beat a dolphin calf to death and exhibited it as a trophy. The digest from GB News stated that one migrant allegedly hit the animal on the head with a stick and seriously injured it. The digest from Alerta Digital stated that the dolphin calf was found dead. The digest from The Objective stated that the dolphin calf died at the hands of immigrants. The digest from CLG News stated that the dolphin was pulled from the sea and beaten to death.

What the coverage left out

None of the centre-rated reports mentioned the environmental organisation DAUBMA by name or its specific complaint to the Civil Guard. None of the right-rated reports mentioned the environmental organisation DAUBMA by name or its specific complaint to the Civil Guard.

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 5 Sept 2026, 01:45, and will add the sides that appear.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

0 rated outlets

No outlet rated left has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.

Centre

2 rated outlets

  • The centre-rated reports led with the visual of migrants holding the dolphin calf aloft. Daily Mail published the headline 'Migrants raise dolphin in the air after it was 'hit with a stick''. Internewscast's headline was 'Shocking Incident: Baby Dolphin Killed in Ceuta, Spain!' Both reports carried details of the dolphin being pulled from the water and struck. Internewscast included a link to the video footage. Daily Mail also reported that locals confronted the men and warned them it was illegal to touch or eat the dolphin, and mentioned an online petition demanding those responsible be identified and brought to court.

Right

9 rated outlets

  • The right-rated reports focused on the alleged killing of the dolphin calf by migrants. Headlines included 'Migrants accused of beating baby dolphin to death in Spain' (CLG News), 'Migrants Beat Baby Dolphin To Death, Parade Carcass Like Trophy' (The Daily Wire), and 'Ceuta: Illegal migrants triumphantly hold baby dolphin aloft after ‘whacking it over the head’ in horror attack' (GB News). These reports detailed the dolphin being pulled from the water, struck with a stick, and paraded as a trophy. Several reports, including those from The Daily Wire, GB News, modernity.news, The US Sun, and Daily Express, mentioned the dolphin being bludgeoned or beaten to death. Reports from CLG News, The Daily Wire, and GB News specifically mentioned the complaint filed with the Civil Guard. The Daily Wire and GB News noted that the footage was verified by local outlet El Faro de Ceuta. Several reports also mentioned the large number of migrants who had arrived in Ceuta from Morocco.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Migrants filmed holding baby dolphin aloft in Ceuta?
Of the 11 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 0% are rated left, 18% are rated centre, 82% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 15. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Migrants filmed holding baby dolphin aloft in Ceuta left or right?
Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 11 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
Is the coverage of Migrants filmed holding baby dolphin aloft in Ceuta biased?
Migrants filmed holding baby dolphin aloft in Ceuta is one event reported by 15 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Migrants filmed holding baby dolphin aloft in Ceuta?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Migrants filmed holding baby dolphin aloft in Ceuta?
15 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What happened in the video footage from Ceuta?
Video footage shows a group of migrants on a beach in Ceuta pulling a baby dolphin from the water and holding it aloft. The incident occurred at Trampolín beach.
What action has been taken regarding the incident?
The environmental organisation DAUBMA has filed a complaint with the Civil Guard concerning the death of the dolphin calf. Local outlet El Faro de Ceuta verified the footage.
How did the centre-rated reports cover the incident?
The centre-rated reports led with the visual of migrants holding the dolphin calf aloft and included details of the dolphin being pulled from the water and struck. One report also mentioned locals confronting the men and an online petition.
How did the right-rated reports cover the incident?
The right-rated reports focused on the alleged killing of the dolphin calf by migrants, detailing it being pulled from the water, struck with a stick, and paraded as a trophy. Several mentioned the complaint filed with the Civil Guard.

Read it at the source

15 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

0

No outlet in this group ran the story.

Centre

2

Right

9
Show 1 more

Not rated

4

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

Ceuta dolphin incident | MediaBias News