The vaquita is the world's most critically endangered marine mammal with fewer than 10 individuals remaining. Their welfare and survival hang on a knife-edge.
Vaquita welfare is inseparable from their conservation crisis. Individual vaquitas caught in gillnets experience drowning — a prolonged, distressing death by asphyxiation. The failed 2017 rescue attempt demonstrated that even well-intentioned capture causes fatal stress in this species. The remaining population are likely experiencing chronic stress from repeated encounters with illegal fishing vessels and gear in their tiny habitat range. The welfare of the last few individuals matters deeply — each death is both a welfare tragedy and an irreversible step toward extinction. Stopping illegal gillnet fishing is simultaneously the welfare and conservation priority.