The reported sighting of a Yangtze River dolphin, or Baiji, indicates there is still hope for people to take further action and protect these cetaceans in the Yangtze from extinction, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Chinese media reported that a local businessman in Tongling City, in east China’s Anhui Province, filmed “a big white animal” with his digital camera on August 19. The footage was later confirmed to be the Baiji by Prof. Wang Ding, a leading scientist in Baiji research at the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is the first Baiji reportedly found in the Yangtze since the scientific expedition last year, during which no Baiji was spotted. Due to the river’s geographic and hydrological complexity, as well as the official IUCN definition of extinction, WWF and many scientists agree that this species is “functionally extinct,” but they believe it is still too early to declare it officially extinct. “This sighting offers a last hope that the Baiji may not follow the same fate as the dodo bird,” said Karen Baragona, Yangtze River Basin Program leader at WWF. “Other species have been saved from the brink of extinction—like the southern right whale and white rhinos—mainly through intensive conservation efforts.” WWF has been actively involved in protecting cetaceans and their habitat in the Yangtze River. “WWF calls for immediate joint efforts to create a living space for this beautiful animal, which is a key indicator of the health of its habitat—the Yangtze River. To be effective, efforts must address agriculture, water resources, transportation, environmental protection, and sanitation to reduce human disturbance and safeguard the cetaceans,” Baragona said. Last year, WWF collaborated with other stakeholders to draft a protection strategy and an action plan to enhance the protection capacity of nature reserves. “Protection measures will be implemented under the WWF program to conserve the Baiji and the Yangtze along with related stakeholders,” Baragona added. About the Yangtze Freshwater Dolphin Expedition 2006: Organized by the Hydrobiology Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Yangtze Fisheries Resources Administration Commission, and The baiji.org Foundation, with support from WWF, NOAA, Britain’s Zoological Society of London, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG), this search is the largest of its kind in recent years in the Yangtze River. The expedition, which started in Wuhan, Hubei Province, on November 6, 2006, lasted 39 days. Scientists from both China and abroad traveled nearly 3,400 kilometers between Yichang, Hubei Province, and Shanghai aboard two ships. Advanced equipment and a well-established standard guided the search, during which participants conducted continuous, simultaneous surveillance using high-precision telescopes and human eyesight.
Yangtze Dolphin Not Yet Extinct
