Ganges River Dolphin: Emergency Response & Capacity Building
The Species & The Canal Stranding Crisis
The Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica)—locally known as Soons or Susu—is an endemic freshwater cetacean and a vital indicator of healthy aquatic ecosystems across the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna river basins. Despite its ecological significance, the species faces severe population pressures from habitat fragmentation caused by dams and barrages, accidental fishing gear entanglement, and water pollution. A critical, recurring threat occurs post-monsoon: as water levels fluctuate, dolphins stray into narrow irrigation canals and smaller tributaries. Unable to navigate back through barrage structures, these stranded individuals face rapid dehydration, heat stress, and fatal entrapment without immediate technical intervention.
Pioneering Canal Rescue Operations
To address this urgent challenge, Wildlife Survival Alliance Foundation India in partnership with the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh, established a dedicated Ganges River Dolphin Rescue Initiative in 2013. Leveraging specialized aquatic veterinary protocols and spatial intelligence, WSAFI stands as a lead expert organization executing successful, high-risk dolphin translocations out of complex irrigation canal networks across the Ganges river basin—having completed over 45 successful rescue operations to date.
India’s First Dedicated Dolphin Rescue Ambulance
Supported by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department (UPFD), WSAFI operationalized India’s first state-of-the-art dolphin rescue ambulance. Built on a custom-engineered Force Traveller platform, this mobile aquatic care unit features advanced climate control, real-time physiological monitoring systems, specialized veterinary storage, and a secure aquatic stretcher system. By replacing makeshift transport with clinical, specialized field care during translocations, WSAFI has established a new national standard for aquatic wildlife welfare and emergency recovery.