A new push to save critically endangered species like the vaquita

By Samantha Wright

Published August 20, 2026 at 12:47 PM MDT

FILE - In this July 8, 2017 file photo, a young woman with the World Wildlife Fund carries a papier mache replica of the critically endangered porpoise known as the vaquita marina, during an event in front of the National Palace in Mexico City. Researchers in Mexico were thrilled to have captured one of the few remaining vaquita porpoises on Saturday, Nov. 4, but the adult female died after a few hours in captivity in a floating pen, raising questions about the last-ditch effort to enclose the world's smallest porpoises to save them from extinction. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

Earlier in August, two funds connected to actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, donated $200 million to the Phoenix Species Project.

The goal of the Project is to give sustained funding to conservation groups working to help 100 of the world's most threatened species. Their hope is to expand the project with more money to protect more species.

One of the animals on the list is the vaquita, a small porpoise that lives off the coast of Mexico, which is critically endangered. You may remember the vaquita. A few years ago, we talked to Boise filmmaker Matthew Podolsky about how fishermen accidentally kill vaquitas as they illegally fish for another sea creature, the totoaba, which brings a huge price in Asia.

With fewer than 15 vaquita left in the world, Idaho Matters wanted to go back and find out how they became so rare so here’s that conversation with Podolsky and Gemma Gaudette, just before he was about to take his film to the Sundance Film Festival.