Extinct Dolphins

[justinl]

I wrote a paper on the baiji two years back and what i found on them still makes me sick just thinking about it. the Yangtze river is a disaster. i assume some of you know about the "great" three Gorges Dam? ugh. that's all i got to say. anyone know how some of the fishermen fish there? some use dynamite to kill the fish, some use electricity, all of which would easily kill a dolphin my messing it's echolocation for obvious reasons. while a bunch of the more crude practices are illegal there, they still continue because there is NOTHING to enforce those laws. did ya know that many fishermen will actually take a SHOTGUN to a dolphin (baiji or otherwise) that attempts to take their catch (stunned from TNT or electricity)? appalling.

a mixture of indifference, lack of education, and a serious overload of apathy is what has brought us to this point in history. not just China mind you, (though they certainly are a major player in crapping up the planet) but the world in general. to say the least, we need to do better.

Baiji were termed "functionally extinct" just last year meaning that even if there IS one or two left, they are destined for extinction very soon. there's no point in even hopin or working towards a recovery. that is from baiji.org which was a site dedicated to baiji but doesn't seem to be up anymore... but may be just my computer.