birdsbugsandbones:

derangedhyena-delphinidae:

derangedhyena-delphinidae:

They’ve apparently decided to stop the VaquitaCPR operation.

Link, for those who have not already seen it: http://www.cbs8.com/story/36795675/vaquita-porpoise-capture-operations-end-on-sea-of-cortez#.WgNPguVmm4I

I can honestly say I’m not surprised at all – given the captive mortality rate,and the immense stress the population is already under, adding the stress of capture and captivity on top of that? Would have probably killed them all faster.

I’m not saying anything new when I say that, in my opinion, vaquita are functionally extinct.

They are a zombie species. They are dead and gone, we’re just waiting for the population numbers to catch up to that fact. The population is too small to succesfully breed back to strength without suffering inbreeding collapse, and their environment is not going to improve fast enough for them to persist anyway.

Too little, too late, and all for naught. This is a great example, unfortunately, of an empty token gesture, of people trying to look like they’re doing something when what they should have done was listened years ago and stopped it from ever getting this bad. Maui’s dolphin is another prime example of this – down to approximately forty individuals – only 10 of which are females, and even fewer are females of reproductive age – are abhorrently under-protected, their habitat is exploited by mining and drilling, as well as commercial fishing. Despite biologists lobbying the New Zealand government for better protection measures, nothing is really being done.

We are not learning from our mistakes, it would seem.