Death of ten Irrawaddy dolphins, including eight calves found in Cambodia’s Mekong River, catapults one of this rarest cetaceans nearer extinction. The environmental group WWF International informed.
This death led to a 10 percent drop in the number of Irrawaddy dolphins living in the Mekong, which was pre3viously thought to be between 80 and 100. They are restricted to a 190km (115 mile) stretch of the river in the Cambodia/Laos border area. With other groups being found in Thai coastal estuaries and a few other freshwater locations in Asia, there are believed to be about 1,000 of the dolphins worldwide.
“This is terrible news, making a serious situation even more critical,” said Robert Mather, Senior Conservation Policy Manager of WWF’s Greater Mekong Programme. “This time of year commonly sees a peak in dolphin deaths, but 10 in the last two months is particularly high and … none have been reported since May 2005,” he said.
Via: Environmental News Network