Mexicans hold mournful procession for endangered porpoise. The vaquita's numbers have been decimated by nets set for the totoaba fish, whose swim bladder is considered a delicacy in China and commands high prices.The totoaba is itself endangered. (Photos: AP)
A woman and child walk past an inflatable representation of a vaquita porpoise, during a mournful, dirge-like procession for the critically endangered vaquita porpoise in Mexico City.
A local shaman looks on during a procession for the critically endangered vaquita porpoise in Mexico City. The Mexican government's ban on gill nets in the upper Gulf of California has also provoked confrontations with poachers who use speed boats, lead authorities on hours-long chases and operate at night.
The latest reports from experts suggests that perhaps as few as 18 vaquita remain in the Gulf, also known as the Sea of Cortes.
An altar made of trash with a vaquita porpoise skull at its center stands during a procession for the critically endangered porpoise in Mexico City.
An activist carries a vaquita porpoise skull on a conch as activists and artists held a mournful, dirge-like procession for the critically endangered vaquita porpoise in Mexico City. An effort to capture vaquitas and possibly breed them was abandoned last year after a vaquita died soon after being captured.
An activist holds a vaquita porpoise skull on a conch, as activists and artists held a mournful, dirge-like procession for the critically endangered porpoise in Mexico City. On Saturday, marchers carried life-size figures of the tiny porpoise and deposited the carved skull in Mexico City's Anthropology Museum, anticipating a coming era when museums may be the only places where vaquitas will be found.
Activists and artists pass around a vaquita porpoise skull in a conch as they held a mournful, dirge-like procession for the critically endangered porpoise in Mexico City. Organizers said the procession wasn't a funeral for the vaquita, but experts say that the population continues to decline by 40 per cent annually.
Mexicans hold mournful procession for endangered species.