Researchers were thrilled to have captured one of the few remaining vaquita porpoises, but announced Sunday that the adult female died after a few hours in captivity in a floating pen, raising questions about the last-ditch effort to enclose the world’s smallest porpoises to save them from extinction.
Critics, and even supporters of the international rescue effort, knew the plan was full of risks: The small marine mammals native to Mexico’s Gulf of California have never been held in captivity, much less bred there.
But with estimates of the remaining population falling below 30, the international team . . .
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