Hope fading for the world’s rarest mammal

30/05/2006 00:00:00 December 2006. After 26 days of travel and 1750 kilometres, the Yangtze Freshwater Dolphin Expedition 2006 has arrived in Shanghai. So far the researchers have seen no baiji and less than 300 Yangtze finless porpoises. The expedition members are discouraged, but it is not impossible that they will see some baiji on the way back to Wuhan. ‘There were several days of poor weather conditions, which made surveying almost impossible’, says Wang Ding, director of the Baiji research group of the Institute of Hydrobiology in Wuhan. ‘We will double our efforts and keep our eyes peeled for baiji on the way back.’

Meanwhile, there is more hope for the Yangtze finless porpoise, as the expedition crew found almost 300 animals. ‘However we must increase our future efforts on Yangtze finless porpoise conservation, otherwise they will go the same way as the baiji.’ said August Pfluger, CEO of baiji.org Foundation.

After seeing the Yangtze habitat the researchers came to the conclusion that if there were any baiji in the river, relocation to the Tian-e-Zhou semi-natural reserve will be the only option.
The baiji river dolphin is a prominent victim of the rapid growth of China's economy and is now the world's rarest mammal, with the current population estimated to be less than 50.

Continued habitat destruction, the fishing industry and collisions with vessels have brought the vulnerable dolphin to the verge of extinction.

The expedition will be finished around December 15 and is being co-organized by the Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology and the Swiss-based baiji.org Foundation. The major project partners are SGS, Anheuser-Busch, SeaWorld and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).