Rescue operations attempt to save Amazonian dolphins
The drought in the Amazon, in addition to many other problems, has affected the lives of dolphins. The leader of the Aquatic Mammals Group of Mamirauá, Miriam Marmontel, warned of the serious situation facing the animals in the lake Tefé region, in Amazonas state. To prevent deaths, Marmontel’s team has worked to rescue the Amazonian dolphins.
Last year, she noted, the dolphins had already fallen victim to the climatic conditions, as hundreds of dolphins—a symbol of the region’s culture and biology—died in the historic drought that plagued the Amazon.
“Our concern is that we see the return of last year’s conditions of low depth and high temperatures, which claimed the lives of at least 209 Amazonian dolphins—178 of them Amazon river dolphins and 31 tucuxis. Proportionally, this is a really high number compared to our estimated number of animals in lake Tefé. Last year, we’re reported to have lost some 15 percent of the dolphin population in the area, including both Amazon river dolphins and tucuxis,” she said in an interview on Rádio Nacional.
The drought
Marmontel said that the Aquatic Mammals Group of Mamirauá had been informed that at least seven Amazon river dolphins were trapped in lakes. She lamented the low number of rescues. “In seven days we only managed to capture two animals due to the difficulties posed by the drought—an adult female and a young male, apparently in a good state of health, from what we were able to see at the time, both clinically and from some blood samples that were collected. This should also help us monitor what could happen in the coming weeks,” she commented.
The idea, the specialist said, is to rescue the animals from this more isolated place of stagnant water and take them to the larger river, the Solimões, in the Mamirauá reserve. She believes the rescue operations are likely to be quite difficult.
“The news we’ve had from the riverside communities is that the communities are all isolated, so it’s going to be a challenging mission, because we’re going to arrive at a beach and we’ll have to walk with all the equipment for a long time. The animals are, according to the community members, isolated with at least an 18-minute walk between this lagoon and the Solimões river,” she said.
She went on to state that the dolphins are robust animals that can reach up to 2.5m in length and will have to be transported over land. “We don’t know yet if it will be a muddy place, because the waters are receding, or perhaps a beach. In any case, it’s going to be a complicated process, requiring a lot of people to move a large animal that’s obviously under stress,” she added.
*With information from Mara Régia, from Rádio Nacional.
