A rare baby dolphin has died on a Buenos Aires beach after tourists grabbed it out of the ocean so they could take selfies.

A huge crowd on the shore of the Santa Teresita beach passed around the squirming Franciscana dolphin for photos, but it died from dehydration after staying out of the water for long.

Pictures posted on social media platforms show a crowd of people holding the dolphin while crushing each other to look at it and take photos. The photos created a storm and sparked outrage on social media, as dozens of users criticized how the dolphin was treated. "In pictures captured by witness Hernan Coria, some people can even be seen taking photos of the mammal's lifeless body," British newspaper Metro reported.

The witness told Metro that the baby dolphin's body washed up on the beach and there was no lifeguard on duty to help out with the other dolphin corpses, which were also washing up on nearby beaches. Although the dolphin was already dead, the treatment of beach-goers greatly disturbed animal rights activists and received a harsh rebuke from environmental and animal rights groups.

A spokesperson for the Argentine Wildlife Foundation (AWF) condemned the actions of the tourists, saying "this serves to inform the public about the urgent necessity to return these dolphins to the sea as soon as possible."

Also called the La Plata River dolphin, the Franciscana dolphin is one of the rarest dolphin species in South America and one of the smallest. There are approximately 30,000 the Franciscana dolphins left, and they can only be found off the coasts of Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.

The AWF spokesperson added: "It is fundamental that people help to rescue these animals, because every Franciscana counts now."