© Tempo
Protected species -- A local resident rescues a wounded Irrawaddy dolphin, locally known as pesut, from the Mahakam River, East Kalimantan. Mahakam pesut currently number only 87 individual animals, down from 96 recorded last year.
Conservation activists are calling for a more concerted effort to protect the habitat of Irrawaddy dolphins, or
pesut, in Mahakam River in East Kalimantan after two of the protected species were found dead, thought to be as a result of widespread environmental problems.
Save Mahakam Pesut Community activist Innal Rahman said the Mahakam pesut was a protected species as it was critically endangered.
The population of Mahakam pesut now numbers only 87 individual animals, down from 96 recorded last year.
The first dolphin was found dead in Kutai Kartanegara regency on July 3. It was suspected that the female dolphin died four days before it was found by local residents traveling on the river.
"We saw it stranded near a coal stockpile of coal company PT Morris," said Rahman, who spotted the dolphin at the location. At 233 centimeters in length and a body circumference of 128 cm, it is believed the dolphin was fully mature.
