They had to dart the animal to get close enough to help

Gemmen, have you ordered the peck and booze for the evening?

Not long afterwards, Fortean writer Paul Harris contacted me concerning this putative sea serpent, kindly supplying me with a couple of newspaper cuttings […] that contained photos of its remains, plus various additional details that he had gathered during his own investigation of this case.

the same connotations as FUCKWITS. for less extreme cases i suggest ASSHATS