Global News - August 2007
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'Extinct' dolphin sighted in China
Thu 30 August 2007 12:00 UK — Asia
A man has published a film apparently showing a Yangtze river dolphin, just a few weeks after an international team of scientists declared the mammal extinct.
According to the official Xinhua news agency, a local man from the Anhui province produced the video which showed a large white animal swimming in the Yangtze river.
The filmmaker, Zeng Yujiang, told the news agency: "I never saw such a big thing in the water before so I filmed it.
"It was about 1,000 metres away and jumped out of the water several times."
Chinese officials have been quick to say that the film shows that the highly endangered species of dolphin still survives in the wild.
The news agency reported that a team of scientists would now be dispatched to the area to try to confirm whether the dolphin sighting was genuine.
However, BBC east Asia editor Steve Jackson said that the long-term survival of the Yangtze river dolphin was still highly unlikely.
The last confirmed sighting of a wild Yangtze river dolphin was in 2004 and the last captive example of the species, Qi Qi, died in 2002.
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