The Sindh Wildlife Department rescued a rare species of Indus River dolphin that had strayed from Sukkur Barrage and wandered into the Rohri Canal in Khairpur, Sindh, yesterday.
Around 25 professional divers successfully rescued the dolphin after a four-hour-long rescue operation.
Sindh Wildlife’s Rescue Team Leader, Adnan Hamid, stated that the dolphin was safely released into the waters near the Tomb of Seven Sisters which is on the left bank of the Indus River near Rohri.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the Blind Dolphins of Indus River as endangered. A survey from 2019 revealed that the Indus River is home to around 1,419 dolphins that live in the turbid waters between Guddu and Sukkur Barrage. However, this rare species is always at risk of getting caught in nets or being trapped in the regulator gates of canals and barrages.
In a similar incident last month, the Sindh Wildlife Department rescued seven blind Indus River dolphins that were trapped in canals and released them into the Indus River.
Officials from the department had observed that the dolphins were stranded in the canals after the river’s water levels had increased.
A lone dolphin had also strayed into the Rohri Canal which was released into the Indus River after a rescue operation.
Earlier this January, over 27 blind dolphins strayed into 10 canals of the Indus River, and over 30 people took part in the month-long rescue operation, the officials said.
The Wildlife Department has established a Dolphin Rescue Control Room (DRCR) at Sukkur Barrage for rescue operations for stranded dolphins.
