As Dolphin numbers decline in Amazon, a man has vowed to keep them protected
Amazon river dolphin, also termed as the 'pink dolphins' owing to their shade of body color. Earlier in 2018, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, declared them as an endangered species, who were on the verge of extinction if necessary steps were not taken to protect them.
Another type of dolphins that are found in the Amazon river includes the smaller tucuxi, that was also deemed as endangered two years after the same declaration around the pink dolphins, says a CNN report. Both of these dolphin species are of the predator kind and help in keeping the fish population and the marine ecosystem along the Amazon River in check. However, their rapid decline across the years has raised serious concerns around the marine ecosystem in this particular region.
It is always said in folklore that whenever innocents are in danger, there always comes a guardian angel to rise to the occasion and protect them at all costs. Such is the case with a man named Fernando Trujillo who has pledged to protect these dolphin species in the region and save the ecosystem there. He began his efforts towards this purpose since the 90s and started working with the locals in the area to save these dolphins from the verge of extinction. The locals gave him a moniker 'Omacha', which means “a dolphin that transforms into a man”, in their local Tikuna language. The moniker somehow stuck with him and his subsequent foundation, that pursued their efforts. In fact, the Omacha Foundation was the one responsible for tagging more than 60 dolphins in South America and 27 just in Colombia alone, in an attempt to understand and study the status of the dolphin population.
