Video: Stranded Indus dolphin rescued from Warah Canal

LARKANA: A stranded blind Indus dolphin, locally known as Bhulan, was rescued from Larkana’s Warah Canal and released upstream of the Sukkur Barrage near Seven Sisters.

The Sindh Wildlife Department in a Twitter statement said this was the 35th successful rescue operation during the last two years. The animal got stranded in the canal and could not go back into the main River Indus due to the one-way water flow, it added.

One stranded #IndusDolphin successfully rescued from Warah Canal of Larkana,Sindh🇵🇰 & safely released upstream Sukkur Barrage near Seven Sisters.
The rescued dolphin taken by road to releasing point, covered distance of more than 80 km in 94 minutes journey.
Thanks to Sindh 1/4 pic.twitter.com/hMRizSChEu

— SindhWildlife (@sindhwildlife) October 29, 2021

The rescued dolphin was taken to the releasing point by road. It covered a distance of more than 80 kilometres in a 94-minute-long journey before being released into the River Indus.

Indus dolphins often get stranded in canals due to the one-way flow of water restricting their entry back into the main River Indus. If not rescued, the mortality of the animal becomes inevitable.

The River Indus dolphin has been marked as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

These mammals have to adapt to life in the muddy river water, and are believed since then to be functionally blind. Without eyes, the rare specie of blind dolphins rely on echolocation to communicate, navigate, and hunt prey including catfish, prawns, and carp.