On September 3, a finless porpoise, a national first-level protected animal, was found dead on the north bank of Poyang Lake in Yongxiu County, Jiujiang, Jiangxi. The cause of its death is under investigation. It is reported that many finless porpoises have died in the waters of Poyang Lake this year.
An online video showed a dead Yangtze finless porpoise lying on the lake beach. There was a pool of dark red liquid near its head that looked like blood stains, and there were many dead fish nearby.
The video publisher said that on September 3, camping travelers discovered this dead finless porpoise on the north shore of Poyang Lake in Yongxiu County, with many dead fish corpses nearby. This was the seventh finless porpoise to die in the Poyang Lake water system this year. The video publisher also said that during the dry season in Poyang Lake, the living space of aquatic animals was significantly compressed and suffered great damage.
On September 5, Mr. Wang, the video publisher, told Jimu News reporters that the information about the death of the finless porpoise came from an expert from the Jiangxi Academy of Sciences and a camping traveler.
Experts from the Jiangxi Academy of Sciences mentioned by Mr. Wang told Jimu News reporters that the dead finless porpoise was discovered by a traveler on the night of September 3. On the morning of the 4th, the traveler took some photos and videos, and then the finless porpoise carcass was transported away by the Jiangxi Provincial Agriculture Department.
A reporter from Jimu News learned from an authoritative source from the relevant departments in Jiangxi that the dead finless porpoise was a national first-level protected wild animal. It had no external injuries and was currently frozen. Experts will conduct an autopsy and analyze it to determine the cause of death. Although it is currently impossible to determine whether the death of finless porpoises is related to the drought in Poyang Lake, the negative impact of drought on finless porpoises is very obvious. Since the beginning of this year, several finless porpoises have indeed died in Poyang Lake, both due to natural and unnatural causes. Most of the unnatural deaths were due to stranding. No deaths of finless porpoises caused by human factors have been found.
According to the authoritative source, since the drought occurred in Poyang Lake, the local finless porpoise protection department has taken measures to release sensitive maps of waters prone to stranding of finless porpoises to relevant cities and counties, release small fish to supplement finless porpoise bait resources, and increase publicity and protection efforts to camping enthusiasts and fishermen. and other response measures to overcome the adverse effects of drought on finless porpoises.
Data show that the 2017 Yangtze River finless porpoise ecological scientific survey results showed that the Yangtze River finless porpoise population is about 1,012, including 457 in Poyang Lake.
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