Sick, Endangered Irrawaddy Dolphin Calf Improves With Tube-Fed Milk And Lots Of Helping Hands

Irrawaddy dolphins, considered a vulnerable species by International Union for Conservation of Nature, are found in the shallow coastal waters of South and Southeast Asia and in three rivers in Myanmar, Cambodia and Indonesia. Volunteer Tosapol Prayoonsuk feeds a baby dolphin nicknamed Paradon with milk at the Marine and Coastal Resources Research and Development Center in Rayong province in eastern Thailand, Friday.

"He does not eat enough but rather just wants to play. I am worried that he does not receive enough nutrition," she told The Associated Press on Friday as she fed the sleepy Paradon, cradled in her arm. "When you invest your time, physical effort, mental attention, and money to come here to be a volunteer, of course you wish that he would grow strong and survive." Sumana Kajonwattanakul, director of the marine center, said Paradon will need long-term care, perhaps as much as a year, until he is weaned from milk and is able to hunt for his own food.