conservationist in Brazil are scrambling for answer after four or five numb dolphins have wash up on beachesevery individual day since mid - December . Experts are now examining the carcase that have been retrieve , and seek to deduce what is behind this sudden and horrific mass dice - off .
At the time of penning , it is thought that at least 102 dead dolphins have been discovered over the past calendar month . The cause of their Death still remains unclear , and while some have seemingly been at sea for a while , others depend relatively fresh , with no obvious signs of trauma .
“ We ’ve never experienced this before . It ’s a tragedy , ” Leonardo Flach , chief coordinator of local NGO Boto Cinza Institute , toldABC News . “ Every day we are finding four or five dolphin carcass . One mean solar day we will find dolphin army corps that are male and adults , and the next sidereal day , female and puppies . But most of them are skinny and with abstruse skin lesions . I ’ve never take care anything like that . ”
Local preservation NGOs are worried that this might point to a bacterial or viral infection open through the group , but at this stage , nothing is really known . If it is something infective , then Flach is seriously disquieted about the future tense of the population . As dolphins are by nature social creatures , the voltage for it to open is mellow .
There are only think to be around 800 dolphins in the Bay of Sepetiba , which is located some 70 kilometer ( 45 mile ) west of Rio de Janeiro . The population of cetaceans off this bit of coast is thought to be one of thehighest concentrations in the world , make the last of over 10 per centum a massive reverse to the dolphins .
The water off this dapple of seacoast , being so secretive to such a major city and haunt by ship , are known to be extremely contaminated already . But even so , conservationists in the region ordinarily only come across around five dead animals a month , have alone five a day . In most cases , they have died due to being caught in nets , defilement , or illegal hunt .
Those at the Boto Cinza Institute are now trying to pressure the local authorities to formally recognize the dolphins in the bay as an peril species , as well as set up a maritime refuge in the region . This , they hope , will help safeguard the future of the dolphins , and save them from disappearing wholly .
