Bolivia protects Amazon dolphins

This video is called Dolphins rescued from low level river in Bolivia.

From the BBC:

18 September 2012 Last updated at 18:19 GMT

Bolivia enacts law to protect Amazon pink dolphins

The pink dolphin, known locally as bufeo, is Bolivia‘s only freshwater mammal species

Bolivian President Evo Morales has enacted a law aimed at protecting a unique species of dolphins that live in the country’s Amazon rivers.

The new legislation bans fishing freshwater pink dolphins and declares the species a national treasure.

At a ceremony along the shores of the Ibare river, President Morales called on the armed forces to protect the habitats of the pink dolphins.

The species is threatened by erosion, pollution and logging in the Amazon.

The Bolivian pink dolphin, whose scientific name is Inia boliviensis, is similar to mammals found in neighbouring Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela.

Male Bolivian freshwater pink dolphins can weigh up to 200kg (440 pounds).

An appendix to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (Cites) says the species is vulnerable because of overfishing in the Amazon basin.

But it says the main threat is the contamination of rivers in the region by mercury, used in illegal gold mining operations.

See also here.

In the Amazon Basin in central Brazil, local legends claim that it is bad luck to kill a river dolphin—just looking one in the eye may cause a lifetime of bad dreams. But there’s another reason to protect these large freshwater creatures: A new study finds that instead of two species in the basin, there are actually three. And each is rarer than anyone realized: here.

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• Why are Pink Dolphins Endangered
• A New Species of River Dolphin from Brazil or: How Little Do We Know Our Biodiversity
• New River Dolphin Species Is First for a Century

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