Extinction Sucks raises alarm over world's rarest marine dolphins

WWF 10 Apr 09;

The second episode of WWF's unique wildlife series Extinction Sucks goes online today (Friday 10.04.09) with a mission to save the rarest and smallest of all the world’s marine dolphins. Australians Aleisha Caruso and Ashleigh Young travel to New Zealand to find out more about the plight of the endangered Hector’s dolphin and its almost-extinct cousin the Maui dolphin.

Inshore fishing threatens the survival of the remaining 7,270 Hector's dolphins – and even worse, there are thought to be just 111 Maui dolphins left. Although the NZ government recently introduced a number of fishing bans to protect the dolphins, the fishing industry aren't happy. Government attempts to implement the fishing bans have ended up in court - with the industry defying overwhelming support from the New Zealand public to protect these dolphins.

Enter Ash and Aleisha who hold a demonstration in support of the ban, raise money to buy an underwater camera to help monitor the threatened populations and meet WWF scientists working day and night to protect the dolphins.

Extinction Sucks is a unique co-production between WWF and Babelgum to bring high-quality conservation programming to web audiences. It's thought to be the first time that an online video channel has commissioned original, full-length wildlife shows specifically for the internet. The series is being broadcast over a six week run on www.panda.org and www.babelgum.com. Other programmes see Ash and Aleisha raise funds for WWF programmes protecting elephants in India and rhinos in Nepal threatened by poachers, and marine turtles in Queensland.