Two of the five freshwater dolphins, known here as “toninas” (Inia geoffrensis), in the aquarium of Valencia, west of Caracas, died this month as a result of illnesses caused by poor water quality, said Adelio Valente, of the Friends of the Toninas Movement. “In these waters, the river dolphins urinate, defecate and that is where the fish are that they eat. If there is not adequate filtration and recirculation of the water, nitrates and nitrites are produced and can be lethal,” Valente explained to Tierramérica.

Manuel Pérez, of the non-governmental Water Quality Movement, said that “the water supplying the aquarium for months is the same poorly treated water, filled with metals, consumed by hundreds of thousands of families” in Venezuela's central region.

The municipal government of Valencia negotiated sending two river dolphins to South Korea, but that deal is on hold due to the deaths.