The
Yangtze River Dolphin (Baiji) Thought to have existed for about 25 million years, it was man which brought this magnificent creature to its knees. Now officially considered extinct the Yangtze River Dolphin is considered the first major species to become victim of mans quest to wipe out the planet and all its major eco-systems.
Whilst a recent video of a white mammal, believed to be the Baiji, was taken it gives the future no hope. One animal cannot help to recover this species and it is only a matter of time before we see the last images of the Yangtze River Dolphin.
The Baiji was only 1 of 4 river dwelling dolphins around the world, the only such mammals to move from saltwater and make their homes amoungst freshwater.
The Yangtze River Dolphin was also deemed the Yangtze River Goddess, it was said that a King drowned his Daughter for not marrying a man she did not love, and thus the Baiji was born. How sad that such a tale now results in the end of a species.
Well there is nothing we can do for the River Dolphin of the Yangtze now, whatever conservation methods were being discussed were too little, too late. China may be proud of their reputation for artificially breeding the Panda Bear, but unfortunately in our opinion things have to be pretty bad in order for scientists to rely on science alone to help a species recover.
It is our opinion that we should be preventing such disasters, not trying to find solutions to them. The whole world is to blame for the demise of the Baiji, whilst it was based in China, it was the world who have pushed China into the industrially strong nation it is today. Our demand for the cheapest products possible has now come at the ultimate price. Sadly only a few really profit from this, the chinese workers certainly do not, and nor do the consumers, its the business owners who drive prices down, and then maximise the profits for themselves. Governments need to take action, they needed to take action 20 years ago.
Hopefully the plight of the Yangtze River Dolphin will make the world stand up and finally take notice, like the Dodo and the Tasmanian Tiger before it, its loss is a result of mans dark side. We may have the ability to send man to moon, but our ability to destroy, mame and kill overshadows everything that is good about man. Sadly whilst conservationists across the globe struggle with budgets and working around war-zones, we see ever increasing military budgets, running into the billions.
Man has become so fearful of each other that we have failed to evolve as a species, if only 1/10 of the worlds military budget could be used for conservation purposes we predict the world would become a far better place.
For more information about Yangtze River Dolphin, please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_River_Dolphin
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