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Mekong River dolphins close to extinction
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/18/content_11561164.htm
BEIJING, June 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Pollution in the Mekong River in
Southeast Asia has pushed freshwater dolphins in Cambodia and Laos to
the brink of extinction, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has said.
"There are only 64 to 76 Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong," the
WWF said Wednesday. It said toxic levels of pesticides, mercury and
other pollutants were found in more than 50 calves that have died
since 2003.
"Necropsy analysis identified a bacterial disease as the cause of
the calf deaths," WWF veterinary surgeon Verne Dove said in a press
statement. "This disease would not be fatal unless the dolphins'
immune systems were suppressed, as they were in these cases, by
environmental contaminants."
Dove said: "these pollutants are widely distributed in the
environment and so the source of this pollution may involve several
countries through which the Mekong River flows."
The Mekong flows from China through Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and
Vietnam.
"The Mekong River dolphins are isolated from other members of
their species and they need our help," said WWF Cambodia country
director Seng Teak, adding that the mammals "can show remarkable
resilience" if their habitat is protected.
The WWF said it was investigating how contamination had entered
the Mekong River, and called for a cross-border health plan for the
dolphins.
The Mekong River Irrawaddy dolphin, which inhabits a 190- km (118
mile) stretch in Cambodia and Laos, has been listed as critically
endangered since 2004. |
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