A rare finless porpoise has been saved from being sold for food after witnesses saw it crying and mistook it for a dolphin.

The mammal had tears in its eyes while on the back of a tricycle in Xuwen, southern China.

But witnesses Cheng Mingyue and Cheng Jianzhuang were so moved by the porpoise’s plight that they paid £170 to rescue it.

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The endangered finless porpoise appeared to cry while it was at the market (Picture: Pear Video)

Two local heroes were on hand to save the porpoise (Picture: People’s Daily/Beijing Headlines)

They borrowed kit from a fish vendor to transport the animal back to the sea, wading out to deeper waters and staying with it for two hours until they could see it no more.


Mingyue said: ‘We saw a person bringing it to the market and many people came to look. It was crying throughout the process.’



Local experts confirmed to Mingyue and Jianzhuang that it was a porpoise and not a dolphin. Porpoises have snorter snouts, smaller mouths, and their dorsal fins are less curved.

Finless porpoises are listed as endangered and they can be found around the Korean peninsula.

An investigation is now being carried out into the capture of the endangered animal.

They waited for two hours for the porpoise to swim off back to freedom (Picture: Pear Video)