A young pink dolphin was spotted near Tai O with horrific injuries to its dorsal fin and tail, believed to have been sustained in a collision with a tour boat’s outboard motor.
The dolphin was sighted on Saturday afternoon. Samuel Hung, the founder of the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society, estimates it to be between four and six years old.
The dolphin was sighted by the society’s researchers at least 12 times in the past two years around the west of Lantau Island, reports Apple Daily.
Hung told the SCMP that the animal seemed “surprisingly tough” and may survive the injuries.
If these images haven’t already tugged at your heartstrings, please think twice before you hop on any boat offering a dolphin-watching trip, especially walla-wallas.
Many of the trips run by operators in Tai O can cause serious harm to the dolphins by getting too close, chasing them, or separating the pods.
The Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society and the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation both offer dolphin-watching trips that promise to be educational and, most importantly, not harmful to dolphins.
(Though Ocean Park’s captive dolphins are another matter…)
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