What’s more pitiful than blind, endangered dolphins swimming in rivers full of pollution? A handful of Pakistanis have dedicated themselves to helping these animals, which are struggling to survive against all odds. Inus dolphins’ numbers are decreasing rapidly as fishermen deplete their stock of food, pollution gets worse and a number of barrages in the waterways obstruct their travel.
From Yahoo News (AFP):
The Worldwide Fund For Nature Pakistan estimated in 2006 there were around 1,200 Indus dolphins left — 900 at a sanctuary near Sukkur in the southern province of Sindh and another 300 further upstream in Punjab.
The dolphin is blind because it lacks eye lenses and so hunts for catfish and shrimp using sophisticated sonar, said Hussain Bux Bhagat, a senior official in the Sindh wildlife department.
Dolphins swam freely in the Indus until about 100 years ago when engineers under British rule started slicing up the river with irrigation projects in the dry hinterland.
The barrages pose a critical threat to the dolphins, dividing their natural habitat into five separate segments of the snaking river.
“This species used to roam across 3,500 kilometres (2,190 miles) of the Indus but are now confined to 900 kilometres (560 miles),” Bhagat said.
As a result the risk of inbreeding “could lead to infertility and then extinction,” Bhagat added.
Untreated sewage dumps, illegal pesticides and industrial and agricultural waste threaten the Indus dolphins even further, and wildlife resources have limited resources to help the creatures. Fishermen used to kill the dolphins that would become trapped in shallow irrigation channels, but awareness campaigns have led to more rescues.
Some of the families that work to save the dolphins have been doing so for generations, and teach their children to continue the tradition. It’s nice to know that someone’s watching out for them, and the dolphins aren’t just being left to die out. But, what’s really sad is the thought that there are millions of species like the Indus dolphins out there in the world, struggling to survive because of our intervention in their ecosystems.
Link [Yahoo News]
