China builds rare-dolphin reserve
China is to set up a sanctuary for the highly endangered white dolphin, a species unique to the country.
The reserve, on the southern coast of China, will include a rescue centre near the city of Zhuhai.
Pollution
from factories, paper mills and chemical plants has destroyed much of
the dolphins’ habitat, the director of the project said.
Only around 2,000 white dolphins are thought to exist, with most living in the Pearl River estuary.
The
reserve, in the eastern province of Fujian, will be about 178 square
miles (460 square kilometres) with building to begin by the end of the
year, the Xinhua News Agency said.
Some 19 white dolphins, also
called “pandas in the ocean” because of their rarity, have died over
the past three years as a result of pollutants, Chen Jialin, director
of the Chinese White Dolphin Natural Reserve, said.