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Mekong dolphins 'almost extinct'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8106323.stm
Pollution in the Mekong river has pushed freshwater dolphins in
Cambodia and Laos to the brink of extinction, the conservation group
WWF has said.
Only 64 to 76 Irrawaddy dolphins remain in the Mekong, it says, and
calls for a cross-border plan to help the dolphins.
Toxic levels of pesticides, mercury and other pollutants have been
found in more than 50 calves that have died since 2003.
The Mekong flows from China through Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and
Vietnam.
"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," said WWF veterinary surgeon Verne Dove in a
press statement.
Critically endangered
The group said it was investigating how contamination had entered the
Mekong river.
Since 2003, the dolphin population has suffered 88 deaths, of which
more than 60% were calves under two weeks old, it said.
"Necropsy analysis identified a bacterial disease as the cause of the
calf deaths," Dr Dove said in the WWF report.
"This disease would not be fatal unless the dolphin's immune systems
were suppressed, as they were in these cases, by environmental
contaminants," he said.
Researchers found toxic levels of pesticides such as DDT and
environmental contaminants such as PCBs during analysis of the dead
dolphin calves.
These pollutants may also pose a health risk to human populations
living along the Mekong - who consume the same fish and water as the
dolphins - the group suggested.
High levels of mercury were also found in some of the dead dolphins,
which directly affects the immune system making the animals more
susceptible to infectious disease.
"A trans-boundary preventative health programme is urgently needed to
manage the disease affected animals in order to reduce the number of
deaths each year," said Seng Teak, Country Director of WWF Cambodia.
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, the WWF said.
The Irrawaddy dolphin is also seen in parts of South Asia.
There too it has dwindled in numbers, although last year thousands of
Irrawaddy dolphins were found in Bangladeshi waters when they were
previously thought to be extinct in the area. |
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