New hope for the Yangtze porpoise

Under the intensely hot sun of early August, I looked out onto the Yangtze River both in awe and envy at the smooth gray bodies that seemed to swim so effortlessly just below the water's surface. They flowed gracefully through the river they have known as home their whole lives, none the wiser to the dangers that their kind faces.

The Yangtze finless porpoise is a critically endangered subspecies of porpoise that has been in continuous decline in the Yangtze over the past 20 years. It is increasingly evident that these intelligent mammals are unable to withstand the mounting pressures that we have been placing on them.

After the Yangtze dolphin became almost extinct in 2006, the importance of reversing the trends that led to its demise became evident. Other wildlife in the river should not be forced down the same path.