River dolphins are among the most critically endangered cetaceans, facing habitat destruction, fishing gear entanglement, and chemical pollution that cause welfare harms and population collapse.
River dolphins face a cascade of welfare harms in waterways increasingly dominated by human activity. Entanglement in fishing nets causes drowning — a particularly stressful death for air-breathing animals. Deliberate killing for bait is a profound welfare violation of highly intelligent cetaceans. Dams create barriers to movement and alter prey availability. The extinction of the baiji stands as a warning about what happens when welfare and conservation concerns for river dolphins are ignored until it is too late.