The Plan to Rescue a Nearly Extinct Porpoise Goes Terribly Awry
Fewer than 30 vaquitas are left in the world, and one died when scientists tried to catch it for a captive-breeding program.
To understand the lengths Vaquita CPR has gone to rescue vaquitas from the brink of extinction, consider that the team mobilized not just fellow humans but also four U.S. Navy–trained dolphins.
Andrea, Fathom, Katrina, and Splash—chosen for their “gentle—arrived in Mexico in early October. Since then, they have assisted in the delicate task of locating vaquitas, a species of porpoise of which fewer than 30 are left in the world. They are finding vaquitas because the Mexican government-led Vaquita CPR project wants to capture and breed them away from the dangers of the wild.
