Blind dolphins face hazardous existence

INDUS RIVER, Pakistan: Nazir Mirani, 47, is the third generation of a humble family committed to saving Pakistan's blind dolphins, an endangered species swimming against a tide of man-made hazards.

"I treat them as my children and do everything whenever a dolphin is trapped in shallow waters," said Mirani, once a fisherman and now among a handful of people officially assigned to protect the dolphins.

"No one can know them as meticulously as me. I was born in a boat and have been living with these fish ever since," said the lanky Mirani, his complexion darkened by years under the burning sun and his chest puffed up with pride.