River dolphins in Asia — Ganges, Irrawaddy, and Yangtze species — are among the world's most critically endangered mammals, facing entanglement, pollution, habitat degradation, and vessel strikes.
River dolphin welfare is inseparable from the ecological health of South and Southeast Asia's major river systems. Individual dolphins caught in gillnets experience acute suffocation and drowning — a prolonged and painful death. Those struck by boat propellers sustain severe lacerations and blunt trauma, with death not always rapid. Population-level decline leaves survivors in increasingly degraded habitats with reduced prey, higher pollutant loads, and greater human disturbance. Conservation interventions must address the full causal chain: fishing net alternatives or exclusion zones in critical habitat, boat speed restrictions, effluent discharge regulation, and habitat protection. The baiji's extinction demonstrates the consequences of inaction and must serve as an urgent warning for remaining species.