River dolphin species are among the most endangered mammals on Earth, facing welfare threats from fishing entanglement, boat strikes, pollution, and habitat fragmentation.
River dolphin welfare and conservation are inseparable — species at such critically low numbers face welfare threats from every interaction with human activity. Boat strikes cause traumatic injury and death. Gillnet entanglement causes drowning. Mercury bioaccumulation from gold mining impairs reproductive and neurological function. Sound pollution disrupts the echolocation on which river dolphins depend entirely for navigation and feeding. The baiji's extinction demonstrates the irreversibility of these processes. Supporting river dolphin conservation is therefore simultaneously supporting the welfare of the last remaining individuals of critically endangered species — welfare at existential scale.