Amazon River Dolphin Face Unprecedented Crisis

  • Post category:NMMF Journal

Urgent Message from Dr. Forrest Gomez

Dear Friends of the Foundation,

Hundreds of endangered river dolphins are in crisis. Our team has been called into action to rapidly deploy to the Amazon to provide emergency relief, and we need your help.

In late September 2023, dolphins began dying at unprecedented rates due to an extreme drought, poor air quality, and water temperatures that have reached up to 102 degrees Fahrenheit. To date, over 175 Amazon river dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) and 32 Tucuxis (Sotalia fluviatilis) have died. Dr. Miriam Marmontel and her team from the Mamiraua Institute for Sustainable Development are working around the clock to better understand the cause of this unusual mortality event (UME) and to closely monitor the remaining animals for distress.

A large die-off of Amazon river dolphins in late 2023 highlighted the critical need for intervention. Operation GRACE responded swiftly, collaborating with local experts and community members to address the crisis and protect the endangered species and their river habitats.
A large die-off of Amazon river dolphins in late 2023 highlighted the critical need for intervention. Operation GRACE responded swiftly, collaborating with local experts and community members to address the crisis and protect the endangered species and their river habitats.
A large die-off of Amazon river dolphins in late 2023 highlighted the critical need for intervention. Operation GRACE responded swiftly, collaborating with local experts and community members to address the crisis and protect the endangered species and their river habitats.
A large die-off of Amazon river dolphins in late 2023 highlighted the critical need for intervention. Operation GRACE responded swiftly, collaborating with local experts and community members to address the crisis and protect the endangered species and their river habitats.
Amazon river dolphins faced a massive die off in late 2023. Operation GRACE responded to the crisis.

Three weeks ago, I returned from the Amana Reserve in the Amazon, Brazil where I helped to conduct river dolphin health assessments with Dr. Marmontel as part of Operation GRACE. Since the beginning of the devastating UME crisis, we have been providing virtual veterinary assistance. Today, at their urgent request, my team and I are en route to Lake Tefé, Brazil to support vital assessment and rescue efforts.

We urgently need your support to give the remaining animals a chance at survival. Your contribution will provide conservation medicine expertise for the management, and potential rescue, care, and rehabilitation of the surviving animals, necropsy of deceased animals, and scientific investigation to better understand the exact causes of the UME.

Please consider donating today. We cannot do this critical work without your support. The dolphins in Lake Tefé, Brazil are counting on all of us.

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With gratitude, 

Dr. Forrest Gomez
Director of Conservation Medicine
Project Manager, Operation GRACE