Disturbing images on social media are not lacking in Myanmar, but one in particular this week has incensed people.
A Facebook account named Zun Ko Tun uploaded an image of a man holding a dead young Irrawaddy dolphin, sparking an investigation from the Department of Fisheries.
Deputy director-general of the department, Myint Zin Htoo, told 7Day News Daily the account had a fake address in Pathein and had been deactivated.
“We will take action against him if we catch him,” Myint Zin Htoo told the outlet. “We have the conservation law to take action in this case.”
The 2018 Conservation of Biodiversity and Protected Areas Law protects the critically endangered dolphin with three to 10 years in jail for killing, hurting or trading the mammal.
However, the dolphin was also included on a list of rare wildlife that will be subject to legal trade under the same law for the purpose of display in zoos and resorts.
Tigers, pangolins and dozens of other endangered animals were included on the list, which was announced by the Forest Department in June.
For the Irrawaddy dolphin, the year got off to a promising start. Surveyors from Mandalay Region Fisheries Department and the Wildlife Conservation Society counted 79 of the critically endangered species from February 10 to 20—four more cetaceans than the previous year.
The find indicated a potential uptick in births, offering a small amount of hope that one of Myanmar’s most endangered species is pulling itself back from the brink of extinction.
But conservationists have since recorded at least five Irrawaddy dolphin deaths reportedly by people using illegal electric shock fishing methods.
