Disturbing images of an endangered Chinese white dolphin hacked to
pieces at a fish market in China are making the rounds on social media, and
enraging conservationists around the globe. Three fishermen have been identified
by police as suspects.
One of the fishermen, surnamed Zhong, claims he
went fishing on March 30 and caught sight of a big fish, floating dead in the
water. Zhong returned to his village with the animal’s body, where he and two
other fishermen could gut its carcass for the meat. After removing the flesh
that had gone rotten, they placed the remaining parts in buckets of ice and
tried, unsuccessfully, to sell them to the public.
Upon being alerted to
this, the Zhuhai Fishery Administration retrieved the baby dolphin’s body parts
for what is now an ongoing investigation. China’s Wild Animal Protection laws
prohibit the sale or purchase of the Chinese white dolphin, a species listed
under first-class protection in the country.
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