River dolphins are among the most endangered cetaceans globally, facing threats from fishing, pollution, and habitat degradation. Their welfare in increasingly degraded river systems deserves urgent attention.
River dolphin welfare reflects the compounding degradation of freshwater ecosystems by multiple human pressures. Individual welfare threats include entanglement in fishing nets causing drowning, boat strike injuries from propellers, and acoustic disturbance from engine noise that interferes with echolocation navigation in an already challenging turbid environment. Pollution accumulation in river systems concentrates toxins in river dolphin tissues, causing immune suppression and reproductive failure. The baiji extinction demonstrates the endpoint of these compounding pressures for species with limited geographic range and slow reproduction. The boto's increasing use as catfish bait — driven by declining natural bait fish populations — represents a direct welfare and conservation threat where individual animals are harpooned for bait, a practice causing acute suffering. River dolphin welfare depends fundamentally on freshwater ecosystem restoration — healthy rivers with appropriate prey species, reduced fishing pressure, and clean water support healthy populations.