Another blind dolphin rescued from Juhi Shakh

Mammal was released in Indus River near Khairpur-Larkana bridge

SUKKUR: Another blind Indus dolphin was rescued from Juhi Shakh near Seta Road and Dadu-Moro bridge in Dadu district on Wednesday. It was released in the Indus River near Khairpur-Larkana bridge.

A blind dolphin was spotted in Juhi Shakh, one of the distributaries of Dadu Canal on Tuesday night. As the mammal was struggling for life, the villagers informed officials of the World Wide Fund for Nature - Pakistan (WWF-P), who rushed to the scene Wednesday morning. A team of WWF-P and Sukkur wildlife department rescued the dolphin from Juhi Shakh and later released it in the Indus River near Khairpur-Larkana bridge.

WWF-P, Sukkur senior project officer Imran Malik told The Express Tribune that the rescued dolphin was 18 months old, male, three feet and seven inches long and weighed around 18 kilogrammes. He said that normally the dolphins slip into the canals of the Sukkur Barrage, which carries ample water for them to swim in easily. However, he added, this one had further slipped into Juhi Shakh, which was carrying less water, putting the life of the mammal in danger. "We rescued it safely from Juhi Shakh and decided to release it in the river near Khairpur-Larkana bridge as it might have died on its way to Sukkur," he said.



He was of the view that the awareness campaign being run from time to time about the protection of wildlife seems to have started working as people are now taking good care of the local wildlife. He added that even though officials from WWF-P and wildlife department patrol different canals and distributaries, they need more cooperation from the general public, especially fishermen, to protect the wildlife.

On Monday evening, a 24-month-old blind dolphin, which had slipped into Dadu Canal, was rescued and released back in the Indus River near the Dolphin Conservation Centre, Sukkur.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2016.