(December 27, 2005) Scientists in China are preparing a drastic rescue plan for one of the planet’s rarest animals – a dolphin with the misfortune of living in one of China’s busiest and most polluted rivers.

Shanghai: Scientists in China are preparing a drastic rescue plan for one of the planet’s rarest animals – a dolphin with the misfortune of living in one of China’s busiest and most polluted rivers. The plan calls for professional fishermen to round up all the fewer than 100 Yangtze River dolphins, one of only four freshwater dolphin species in the world. The captured dolphins would then be released in a protected reserve. Government scientists say the dolphins’ only hope is to be moved from their sole natural habitat, the lower Yangtze River in central China. Their numbers have dwindled rapidly with the increase in fishing, boat traffic and industry along China’s longest river. Other experts agree that unless something is done, the blue-gray dolphins – the same size as their more playful ocean cousins but with longer, thinner snouts – will be extinct in 20 years. But they say simply relocating the dolphins won’t solve the river’s worsening condition, or help other species. They also say there may be difficulty catching the smart, fast-moving creatures, and getting them to accept their new home. “Tracking down the dolphins will be like looking for a needle on the bottom of the ocean,” said Zhou Kaiya, an expert on dolphins at Nanjing University. The extreme nature of the plan to transplant an entire species underscores the mounting environmental costs of China’s rapid economic growth. The government has begun or is considering expensive programs to save other rare animals as well, including leopards, tigers and China’s most distinctive wild animal, the panda. The dolphins have lived in the Yangtze for 25 million years. Called the “Goddesses of the Yangtze,” they were a traditional symbol of peace and prosperity to Chinese living along the river’s banks. But in recent decades, the dolphins have been decimated, most by being accidentally entangled in fishermen’s nets and hooks.

Associated Press, December 27, 2005