Experts to start capturing rare vaquita porpoises in Mexico

[Judi Lynn]

By MARK STEVENSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
 MEXICO CITY — Oct 5, 2017, 10:02 PM ET

U.S. Navy-trained dolphins and their handlers arrived in Mexico Thursday to participate in a last-ditch effort to catch, enclose and protect the few dozen remaining vaquita porpoises to save them from extinction.

Mexican authorities and an international group of experts say they will set out on Oct. 12 in a fleet of small boats to find the critically endangered and elusive marine mammals with the assistance of the dolphins.

. . .

Experts acknowledge the catch-and-enclose plan is risky; breeding in captivity has successfully saved species such as the red wolf and California condor, but the vaquita has only been scientifically described since the 1950s and has never been bred or even held in captivity.

"The group of dolphins is trained to help us identify where the vaquitas are, so that once they are located, the group of scientists and veterinarians can capture them and take them to a sanctuary that is almost completely built," Pacchiano said. The sanctuary is expected to be some kind of floating pen or net enclosure in a protected bay.

More:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/experts-start-capturing-rare-vaquita-porpoises-mexico-50313948



vaquita porpoises

[hunter]

1. I hope this works out as well as it did for the California Condor.

But it's terrifying and it never should have come to this.