The Baiji dolphin is dead; Long live our polluted waterways
December 13th, 2006
Have you heard of the Baiji, a freshwater dolphin from China? Probably not (unless you read Douglas Adam’s Last Chance to See). And as someone noted in the comments section of an NGO’s blog desperately trying to alert people to the plight of this amazing mammal, “it is a true tragedy that the most publicized single moment for an endangered animal, like the Baiji, is the moment it officially disappears.”
And now the Baiji, one of FOUR freshwater dolphin species in the world, is gone…
The Baiji Yangtze Dolphin is with all probability extinct. On Wednesday, in the city of Wuhan in central China, a search expedition, under the direction of the Institute for Hydrobiology Wuhan and the Swiss-based baiji.org Foundation, drew to a finish without any results. During the six-week expedition scientists from six nations desperately searched the Yangtze in vain.
Let this extinction serve as a clarion call to all of us. We MUST do something to protect habitat and to ensure that our rivers and oceans are clean, robust, and capable of supporting human and animal life.
And it’s not just dolphins. It’s EVERYTHING. Want to see the ugly details of 100s and 100s of species of birds that are close to extinction? Take a look at endangered birds in Asia,
South America, Oceania, and more…
I’ve been thinking of something lately: The opportunity cost of conservation initiatives and funding in the United States. After all, the United States, compared to most of the world, has relatively decent environmental protection laws. Moreover, the biodiversity in the US is pretty low, compared to tropical regions that harbor far more species. (Do a search for endangered birds in North America and you will find the number to be far less than in tropical areas, for example… (and in fact the majority of the birds listed for US are ones in Hawaii!))
And so the cost of doing anything in the United States, in terms of conservation, is pretty darn high. The low-hanging fruit has been picked. And additional measures cost so much.
Compare that to the cost of conservation initiatives in developing countries, where things are much cheaper, where there’s so much low-hanging fruit in terms of basic conservation work to be done, and where overall biodiversity is far higher.
I don’t mean to belittle our internally focused efforts in the US. But, when I read things about dolphins going extinct in developing countries like China, it really hits home… just imagine how far, say, $2 million could have gone to conserving this species. This year, over $6 billion was approved in bond measures for conservation measures to protect farmland in the US… imagine if a fraction of that was assigned to Africa conservation, or Asia, or…?
I mean, look, the Baiji (also known as the white-flat dolphin) won’t be the first dolphin to vanish. What about the Irrawaddy dolphin in Cambodia and Vietnam? It’s also critically endangered. Just imagine what a fraction of a fraction of the Sierra Club’s annual budget could do if applied to helping this dolphin?
I personally think that Conservation International, bankrolled by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, is doing wonderful things.
Given the passing of the Baiji dolphin, why not consider a small donation, in memorial, to this charity to help ensure that future international extinctions are avoided.
Goodbye friend…
Related posts: Tiny, big-eared, hopping mammal caught on film... the jerboa!, Two Yangtze giant soft-shell turtles left... will China do anything?, Animal smuggling, Australia vs China
9 Comments Add your own
1. Nate Svoboda | December 15th, 2006 at 12:35 pm
This is a very sad day in history. What a tragic loss.
2. Adriena young | January 22nd, 2007 at 11:51 am
Why don’t people care about these animals!!!!!!!!!!!!
they will all probably be extinct by 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3. marcos adorno | August 8th, 2007 at 5:31 am
it sucks but now instead of greiving we should focus on alerting people to focus on other species which are on th verge of being extinct.
4. Douglas Adams | August 30th, 2007 at 9:54 am
All is not lost. A sighting of the Baiji has been recorded on video tape and labeled legitimate. to read the article follow this link to the nytime or just go to the site and zip over to the science section. it should be the top article as of August 30th 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/30/world/asia/30china.html?ref=science
5. MB | September 12th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
dolphins are my favorite animal! And it is so stupid how people treat these animals! But i agree with marcos adorno we should focus on other animals that need our help before they have the same fate.
6. Matthew | December 6th, 2007 at 6:21 am
Everytime I read something similar to this story it really breaks my heart. I don’t understand why a political or economic leader will not stand up to help the masses that want to fight such a problem. We are in the middle of a climate crisis, and biological crisis and to me, the only way to fight this problem is on all fronts at once… go for broke as it were. Otherwise, we are doomed to be alone in our own self created misery whethere it sounds to be from a catastrophist or not.
7. Adrie | December 6th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Ocean: A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man - who has no gills.
Ambrose Bierce
For some ambiguous reason the above quote came to mind. That and I’m really glad I gave up sushi when my mom sent me that 4 part series on the over fishing of our fresh and salt water sources. Really by the time I got to the red-tides suffocating the manatees -didn’t matter how much I loved sushi! Anyway a special thanks to the author of this sight for providing information we should all be aware of. No matter how sad news, awareness is the step to empowerment!
8. Dolphin | December 6th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Excellent quote there Adrie .. thx for sharing that one …
I agree, it’s a sad sad world we live in when any species becomes extinct. Politicians don’t stand up for these issues because, ya know, there’s not much in it for them …
Hopefully though, because environmental issues are now paramount on many peoples’ minds, more action will be taken to prevent something like this from happening again … I try not to be cynical and to believe …
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