A Ganges dolphin was caught at 7pm on Wednesday in the Sutia river at Nandia Sangun village on the border of Sreepur upazila in Gazipur. It is alleged that, despite objections from local people, a kobiraj (traditional healer) took it away instead of releasing it into the river.

A young man from Nandia Sangun village, who did not want to be named, said the dolphin was caught in a fisherman's net at 7pm and brought to the riverbank. While it was still alive, he and many other locals asked for it to be released. Hearing the news, a kobiraj named Mobarak Hossain from Niguari village in Pagla thana of Mymensingh district, on the other side of the river, came and took the dolphin alive from the fisherman to his house. Local people said the kobiraj took it to make oil.

Rahat Akand told Prothom Alo that he and his friends had repeatedly asked for the dolphin to be released. "There are hardly any dolphins left in the river now," he said. "At such a bad time, if they are caught in fishermen's nets like this, there is a risk the animals will disappear. That is why we tried to return it to the river." But the fisherman did not listen and gave the dolphin to the kobiraj.

Several eyewitnesses said the dolphin was about three and a half feet long, grey in colour, with a long snout. Such dolphins are sometimes seen leaping in the Sutia during the rainy season. They know there were once many Ganges dolphins in this river, but their numbers have been falling over time.

Source: Prothom Alo. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.