A dolphin was found washed ashore at Alambarai Kuppam on Tuesday.
The mammal was identified as an Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin.
Residents and members of the Sea Turtle Protection Force (STPF) at Alambarai Kuppam spotted the dolphin and informed officials of the Kancheepuram Forest Department.
Supraja Dharini, chairperson of the TREE Foundation, said the dolphin was 56 inches long and weighed around 500 kg.
It was found to have flippers 74-inch long. There were wounds near its head, she said.
Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins inhabit coastal waters in tropical to warm-temperate regions, and enter rivers, mangroves and estuaries.
They are at risk from factors that also threaten other cetaceans, such as entanglement in fishing nets, pollution and the depletion of fish stocks worldwide, a press release from the TREE Foundation said.
Based on instructions from the forest range officer of the Chengalpattu range, the dolphin was buried at a distance above the high tide line with the help of the local fishing community.