The Yangtze river dolphin, one of the most endangered species on the planet, has been declared officially extinct. After an exhaustive survey of its habitate scientists were unable to discover any signs that there are any of the freshwater mammal left.

It is the first large vertebrate forced to extinction by human activity in 50 years, and only the fourth time an entire evolutionary line of mammals has vanished from the face of the Earth since the year 1500, according to The Guardian of London.

The Yangtze used to be home to thousands of these creatures but is now so polluted and industrialized that it finally became impossible for the dolphins to live there.

Traditionally revered as a sort of river demi-god, the dolphin used to enjoy a cultural protection, during Mao Zedong’s “Great Leap Forward” the destruction of traditional culture saw this protection lifted and the dolphin was then hunted for it’s meat and skin.

Scientists scoured the river four times, using sensitive microphones, and high powered binoculars to try and find these elusive beasts. The plan was to capture any remaining dolphins and take them to a lake that had once been part of the river. Unfortunately the scientists found nothing.

Local fishing practices of using long lines of unbated hooks to simply catch anything that wanders into them have killed thousands of dolphins in the last 30 years, even though the practice is supposedly illegal.

This is not the first time we have covered the shocking disregard that China’s industrial growth (fueled in large part by Americans hunger for cheap crap), is decimating the local environment. We must remember that the “deal” we are getting on our cheap goods has a much greater price for the natural world.