Nanjing was praised recently by People's Daily, one of China’s most important newspaper, for its protection of finless porpoises!
On April 18, People's Daily published a commentary titled "Applaud to Nanjing for its protection of finless porpoises". The article is about Nanjing's plan which revises the river pathway for protecting the natural habitat of finless porpoises.
"A convenient river pathway is essential for citizens in Nanjing, but the strange bridge tower could also be an obstacle to finless porpoises in the Yangtze River. People in Nanjing now have found the best way caring for the safety of finless porpoises," said the commentary.
Yangtze finless porpoise which was considered as "giant pandas in water" has been listed as "extremely endangered" in IIUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The most stringent protection has been carried out according to the national first-class animal protection standards. Born with a smile face, the porpoises are also known as the "Smile of Yangtze River ".
Finless porpoises in the Yangtze river. (Photo by Yuan Ping)
The provincial nature reserve for Yangtze river finless porpoises covers 90 percent of the Yangtze river in Nanjing section.
According to the latest scientific research, the number of finless porpoises in Nanjing reserve is on the rise.
Now, these "cute pets" can often be seen frolicking on the Yangtze river in Nanjing. By the river, people holding phones and cameras cheer for their every jump out of the water. Nanjing has become the only city in the whole Yangtze river basin where there is a stable habitat for wild finless porpoises in the downtown section.
Nanjing works hard to make the "smile" last in the Yangtze river. "At present, the finless porpoises and newborn porpoises can be seen at several fixed observation points. I think it's been worthy." said Jiang Meng, secretary of Nanjing Yangtze Finless Porpoise Conservation Association.
"Recently, I went to the US for an exchange activities of the Chinese aquatic mammal research groups. International counterparts and well-known scholars have given full recognition to the protection of the finless porpoise in Nanjing. The finless porpoise has had conditions to become the ecological name card of Nanjing," said Jiang.
（source：ourjiangsu.com）
