Finless porpoise stranded on river bank in Hangzhou is under rescue and treatment

Photo: Weibo account of CCTV News

A white-gray finless porpoise was found stranded on the mudflat of the Qiantang River in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, on Tuesday, which was then transported to a local park for professional rescue and treatment.

The stranded finless porpoise was an East Asian finless porpoise, a species mainly inhabiting the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the Bohai Sea, but occasionally found in freshwater, local authorities said.

It is categorized as China's national second-class protected animal and ranks among the most endangered species with a rapidly decreasing population, according to media reports.

The stranded finless porpoise was female, with a length of 1.42 meters and estimated weight of around 50 kilograms. It has some scrapes on its head when it was found, media reported.

According to Liu Quansheng, a technical director from Hangzhou Changqiao Polar Ocean Park, the finless porpoise failed to stay balanced in the water when it was rescued. It had blisters and wounds on the head and suffered from some diseases. Its defecation is dark green and foreign items were ejected from its respiratory hole. Besides, it also vomits, chinanews.com reported.

After it was sent to the ocean park, a preliminary examination was conducted on the finless porpoise. At present, the finless porpoise still suffers serious unbalance status and cannot stay balanced in the water without being helped, Liu said.

The rescue personnel stanched bleeding of the finless porpoise's wounds and inoculated it an antibiotic injection to prevent infection in the wound. Meanwhile, they also drew blood from the finless porpoise for testing.

Finless porpoises are generally social animals. Apart from the possibility of accidentally entering the wrong waters, a solitary porpoise may also indicate the presence of some illness.

According to the rescue personnel, the finless porpoise is very weak and it should have been ill before it was stranded.

The rate of successful rescues of finless porpoises has always been low, a rescue personnel said. According to the agricultural administrative law enforcement team in Hangzhou, the department has carried out a total of 15 rescues of the East Asian finless porpoises since 2005, of which only three rescues succeeded, tidenews.com.cn reported.

Most of these finless porpoises died after they were stranded on the bank of the river. The dead finless porpoise can be made into animal specimens for display and science popularization.