Activists cry foul over Ganges dolphin poaching

PATNA - A day after four Ganges River Dolphins were killed by suspected poachers on the banks of the Ganga river, wildlife experts and conservationists Friday stressed the need to save the endangered species.

“It is an alarming situation that poachers continue to kill dolphins for their flesh and oil. It is high time they were conserved,” R.K. Sinha, an expert on Ganga dolphins, told IANS.

Sinha said it was shocking that killings of dolphins continue even after the Ganges River Dolphin was declared the national aquatic animal early this year.

“It stunned me that such a large number of dolphins were killed by poachers right under the nose of the government,” he said.

Sinha alleged that poachers had killed two more dolphins in Bhagalpur and Patna a few weeks earlier.

“Dolphins are the lifeline of the Ganga. If the dolphin numbers increase, it will be a sign of a clean river. If the numbers decrease, it is a sign of increasing pollution,” he said.

S.K. Choudhary, a dolphin conservationist, said: “The conservation of dolphins should be taken seriously.”

Choudhary is also the director of Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary (VGDS) which is spread over a 50-km stretch of the Ganga river in Bhagalpur district.

However, Patna District Forest Officer Surendra Singh said the cause of the dolphin deaths can only be known after the post-mortem report.

“It appears that dolphins died due to soaring heat,” Singh said. The forest department has started a probe into the incident, he said.

There are only about 2,000 Ganges River Dolphins left, down from tens of thousands just a few decades ago.

Sinha said its numbers are dwindling due to poaching, pollution and break-up of its habitat because of dams.

Bihar government plans an awareness campaign among fishermen in the state for conservation of the dolphins.

The Ganges River Dolphin is one of four freshwater dolphin species in the world. The other three are found in the Yangtze river in China, the Indus in Pakistan and the Amazon in South America.

The Ganges River Dolphin is blind. It finds its way and and its prey in the river waters through echo. The Ganges River Dolphins are found in India, Bangladesh and Nepal.