Locals help rescue stranded Indus River dolphin

A joint team of the Sindh Wildlife Department and WWF-Pakistan safely released a stranded Indus River dolphin, which had been entrapped in a minor tributary of a large canal in Larkana, in the main Indus River.

The 42-inch long female dolphin was spotted stranded by locals in Wassand Wah, a minor tributary of Warah Canal in Larkana. The locals, while considering the urgency, moved the dolphin to comparatively deeper water in a nearby fish pond as an immediate response to avoid stranding induced mortality.

They later informed media and Sindh Wildlife Department officials. The rescue team carefully captured the dolphin following standard rescue protocols and translocated it in a sound-proof ambulance and released it in the Indus River at Sukkur Barrage upstream.

Rab Nawaz, Senior Director Programmes of WWF-Pakistan, appreciated the community’s role in the successful rescue of the dolphin. According to him WWF-Pakistan believes in empowering community’s stewardship to conserve endangered species such as the Indus River dolphin, which is believed to be a sustainable conservation approach.

He shed light on a few aspects of WWF-Pakistan’s long-term community outreach and awareness program implemented as part of the Indus River Conservation Initiative in collaboration with partners. 

More than 140 dolphins have been rescued as a result of the program since 1992, he said.

Community awareness and education, he added, had also helped substantially decrease stranding-induced dolphin mortalities in recent years. 

WWF-Pakistan has set up a 24-hour phone helpline, 071-5615505, to strengthen the existing dolphin rescue programme.