The Ganges River Dolphin may not end up becoming extinct like its cousin the Yangtze River Dolphin. Maybe humanity has learned a valuable lesson, time will tell. The Yangtze River dolphin became extinct in 2007 due to agricultural and industrial poisons being dumped into the river. This dolphin earned the distinction of becoming the first aquatic mammal in 50 years to disappear from our planet, let hope the Ganges Dolphin is not the second.
The Ganges dolphin, a cousin to the more well know saltwater bottle nose species, has a long thin snout, tubby belly and oversized fins. It is almost blind but has excellent sonar and can leap out of the water if in a joyful mood, something not seen lately.
According to Conservationists at the World Wildlife Fund about 2,000 dolphins have been killed in India due to untreated sewage dumped into the river and being drown in fishing nets. Near where the dolphins swim the Ganges contains 60,000 fecal coliform bacteria per 100 milliliters which is 120 times greater than the safe bathing limit and astronomically beyond the safe drinking water limit. The dolphins have not volunteered for the job and are really not being paid much attention to as the canary in the coal mine. This would partially explain why 1,000 children die each day of diarrhea sickness in India.
In one town on the river a change has been made with wonderful results. The river is now cleaner next to Raja Karna. Instead of poisonous chemical fertilizers the farmers are using home made organic compost. They also built a small but successful sewage treatment plant. So due to these simple and easy changes the population of the Ganges River dolphin has more than doubled from 20 to 55. A miracle, no, just simple common sense and a willingness to take a small step and think out of the box.
If the rest of the citizens in towns along the Ganges River could emulate the behavior of the farmers in Raja Karna then possibly a unique and as like all organic matter on this planet including humans, irreplaceable species could live for many more generations. No more extinctions.
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