“River Pigs” Face Extinction, Chinese Scientists Survey Their Population in the Yangtze River

This past Sunday, several Chinese researchers agreed that the time had come to carry out a thorough survey of the country's Yangtze dolphin population.

Apparently, the main drive behind their wishing to gather information concerning the so-called river pigs now inhabiting the country's Yangtze River is the fact that several recent studies have shown that, as a result of human activities, the overall headcount for the species decreased to a considerable extent.

Seeing how these finless dolphins are considered to be one of the symbols of the Yangtze River, it need not come as a surprise that their being threatened with extinction has sparked several concerns.

Times of India quotes researcher Wang Ding, who made a case of how, “Our expectation is maybe only 1,000 of them are left, but we have to see how it turns out from the survey.”

“If we are going to save the Yangtze finless porpoise, we must take immediate action to keep the Yangtze River and its lakes healthy. This means better laws and enforcement - we need to see harmful fishing practices stop, sand-dredging better controlled and new reserves developed,” environmentalist Lei Gang went on to explain.