Rare Indus dolphin stranded at small Khairpur canal for two days

KHAIRPUR: A blind dolphin stranded in a small stream in Khairpur district for last two days facing an existential threat, reports said.

The endangered Indus dolphin after scarcity of water in the river had moved to a small water branch and has been stranded in Ali Nawaz canal of Thari Mirwah for last two days local people said.

A large number of people have gathered at the place to see the rare animal. Some people were also trying to capture the stranded dolphin.

The Wildlife department rescue unit involved in conservation

The Dolphin Conservation Unit of the Sindh Wildlife Department (SWD) was yet to reach to the spot and save the mammal despite they were informed about presence of the dolphin, local people said.

The local people could kill or hurt the animal if it was not rescued from the small canal.

The Indus River dolphin has been marked as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The dolphins have to adapt to life in the muddy river water, and are believed since then to be functionally blind. Without eyes the rare specie of blind dolphins rely on echolocation to communicate, navigate, and hunt prey including catfish, prawns, and carp.

The dolphin species remain in the lower downstream reaches of the Indus River in Pakistan.