caprette:

This morning I found out that July 9th is International Save the Vaquita Day, and that the Mexican vaquita, smallest cetacean in the world (and seven-year-old me’s favorite porpoise,) is dying off at alarming rates.

“The vaquita’s extinction clock stands at one minute to midnight and the species is being pushed into oblivion by the demand of a relatively small number of Chinese consumers of totoaba maw,” -Clare Perry, the team leader of the Environmental Investigation Agency’s (EIA) oceans campaign.

8 Ways To Help (from VIVA Vaquita website)

• Donate to the Vaquita Recovery Fund
• Sign their petition to the President of Mexico and others in the Mexican government, urging immediate action in banning all gillnet fishing in vaquita’s range.
• Write to Mexican officials (more info in the page)
• Do not buy shrimp or fish caught with gillnets.
• Vote for politicians with a good environmental record
• Write your elected officials: Although the Vaquita is native to Mexico, due to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), vaquita is an endangered species in Mexico, the United States, and Canada.
• Contact VIVA Vaquita about volunteering.
• Share the ¡Viva Vaquita! throught their facebook page or twitter

Vaquita’s lack the proper limbs and information to get out of the water and fight for their right to live.
We can’t give them legs and international diplomacy skills but we can do our best to let our lawmakers know that we’re not going to sit back quietly while they wipe vaquitas off the face of the planet.