Rare river dolphin 'now extinct'

This is the 2nd article in recent memory that fails to make a connection between the plight of this dolphin species and the enormous three Gorges Dam that recently went into operation affecting that river. I don't get it.


"A freshwater dolphin found only in China is now "likely to be extinct", a team of scientists has concluded.

The researchers failed to spot any Yangtze river dolphins, also known as baijis, during an extensive six-week survey of the mammals' habitat.

The team, writing in Biology Letters journal, blamed unregulated fishing as the main reason behind their demise.

If confirmed, it would be the first extinction of a large vertebrate for over 50 years."

More info:
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Rare river dolphin 'now extinct'

 

Man...what are we doing to this world.

 

i was looking around and i guess it was proclaimed functionally extinct last year here is the pdf I found http://www.baiji.org/fileadmin/pdf/1206_release_YFDE.pdf

 

Crap.

It is a wonder that with all of the large aquariums in the world, one did not think of getting a couple of pairs of these to keep from extinction.

There are likely many other ecological and environmental impacts of the the three gorges dam that have not yet surfaced.

 

It's horrible. There are even shark species that are becoming scarce.

 

Makes me embarrassed to be human. :-[