Bihar to launch awareness campaign for dolphins
By IANSMonday, May 3, 2010
PATNA - In the wake of killing of four Ganges river dolphins here last week, the Bihar government has decided to launch an awareness campaign to protect the endangered species — declared national aquatic animal early this year, forest officials said Monday.
“We will involve local residents as well as non government organisations (NGOs) working for the protection of environment and ecology to create awareness to stop the killing of dolphins,” state Principal Chief Conservator of Forests B.A. Khan told IANS.
Four Ganges dolphins were killed Thursday by suspected poachers. An autopsy revealed that the dolphins were trapped and beaten to death as they bore several marks on their necks and heads.
Seeking a detailed report on the incident, Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh asked the state government to come up with a plan of action for the protection of dolphins.
Khan said that state government was preparing the action plan and would send it to the minister soon.
He said the forest department plans to put up hoardings in Hindi in sensitive areas with contact numbers of the local forest officials for information in connection with dolphins and poaching activities.
Patna District Forest Officer Surendra Singh said that the forest department will intensify patrolling in the river in areas with high dolphin population.
“The department will purchase its own boats for patrolling,” Singh said. The forest department has so far been hiring country boats for river patrolling.
R.K. Sinha, an expert on Ganges river dolphins and also chairman of the working group for dolphin conservation, alleged that poachers had killed two more dolphins in Bhagalpur and Patna, a few weeks back.
There are only about 2,000 Ganges river dolphins left, down from tens of thousands just a few decades ago.
The Ganges river dolphin is one of the four freshwater dolphin species in the world. The other three are found in the Yangtze river in China, the Indus river in Pakistan and the Amazon river in South America.
The species, found in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, is blind and finds its way and its prey in the river waters through the mechanism of echo.
