Before the Last One Dies

There is a small porpoise, called the Vaquita, who lives in the clear, warm waters at the extreme northern end of the Gulf of California. It is a beautiful little creature, with a unique body shape and color pattern, a tall dorsal fin, and dark eye rings that have given it the name, ‘Panda of the Sea’. If you saw one you could not help but fall in love with it; but soon, very soon, no one will ever see a Vaquita again. There are only 100-150 left in the wild and none in captivity, where they do not do well or breed. It is the world’s most endangered marine mammal and it is vanishing before our eyes. Every year, as many as half the population of Vaquitas become entangled in gillnets and drown, and reproduction cannot keep up with this attrition rate. But it is not too late to save them from extinction. Here is how you can help:

1. Write letters to your government, or to the United Nations, in support of the Vaquita conservation efforts by Mexico’s Ministry of Environment.
2. Do not buy shrimp or fish caught in gillnets, and support fishermen who do not use gillnets.
3. Tell your friends, and all those who will listen, about their story.
4. Donate to the Vaquita Recovery Fund at,
Cetos Research Organization
c/o Cetos Atlantic/Ann Zoidis
11 Des Isle Avenue
Bar Harbor, ME 04609
And visit www.cetosresearch.org

Please help before the last one dies, and the light of yet another species is extinguished forever.