Patna, Oct 8 :Bodies of at least half a dozen endangered Ganges river dolphins have been found near a railway track at Hathidah in Bihar's Patna district. The dolphins had been cut into pieces and stuffed into eight sacks.

The incident is seen here as a major setback to the ongoing conservation of the endangered Ganges river dolphin.

"Bodies of dolphins were found cut into pieces in eight sacks Sunday morning. But we are yet to find out how many dolphins were killed and packed," a police source said.

The wildlife department said bodies of at least six dolphins cut into pieces in eight sacks were found near a railway track at Hathidah on Mokama-Begusarai route, about 100 km from Patna.

A local source in Mokama told IANS over telephone that at least 7-8 dolphins were killed and cut into pieces.

The sacks were noticed by the villagers near a railway track and the police were informed.

"The evidence suggests that the consignment was being taken to Kolkata or northeastern states by train. And something must have forced the smugglers to throw them out of the train," a police official said.

Dolphins are locally called sons of the Ganges river, but pollution and rampant fishing have threatened their existence.

In last two years, nearly a dozen dolphins were found dead in the state. They were killed after they were trapped in fishing nets. Dolphin experts said the endangered animals are also killed for their meat, skin and oil.

The experts said the actual death toll never gets recorded since only a few incidents get reported. The carcasses are either buried or thrown into the river.

The government had set up the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary in Bhagalpur district a decade ago for conservation of the species. The sanctuary is spread over a 50-km stretch of the Ganges.

Last year, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had announced a plan to save the species, but things have hardly moved beyond that.

"Nothing has happened at the ground level to save them," an official admitted on condition of anonymity.

R.K. Sinha, head of the zoology department at Patna University, said: "If we fail to save these mammals, the future generations may only see them in photographs.

"A rapidly shrinking Ganges and the river's changing course are threatening the dolphins," said Sinha, who also heads the central government's dolphin conservation project.

Sunil Choudhary, another wildlife expert, said: "On paper conservation work is going on. But in reality the sanctuary has no formal conservation plan. Unless locals are involved in conservation and awareness is created, dolphins will continue to die."

Untreated sewage, rotting carcasses and industrial effluents that find their way into the Ganges during its 2,500-km-long journey across several states from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal adversely affected the dolphins, he said.

The Ganges has already shifted its course near Patna. It now flows two kilometres away from the city, thanks to silting and pollution.

Researchers estimate the dolphin population across India to be a little over 1,500. Half of these are found in the Ganges in Bihar. The numbers have dropped drastically over the past decades. In the 1980s, the Gangetic delta zone alone had around 3,500 dolphins.

In 1996, freshwater dolphins were categorised as an endangered species by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), a forum of conservationists, NGOs and government agencies.

(IANS)

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People should be educated through media regarding importance of protection of endangered species.

S.K.Roy Chaudhary

skrc88@gmail.com