The yangtze dolphin, the "godess of the yangtze"

Well, it's finally happened. The Yangtze river dolphin is unofficially extinct.

This article describes in loose detail how the species had been threatened and was thought to be nearing extinction in 2006. This one explains how it died.

Apparently fishermen who's livelihoods relied on the river had unknowingly been trapping dolphins in their nets, preventing them from surfacing for air and drowning them. The ships that now frequent the Yangtze also had collided with them, killing and injuring them. Pollution of the mighty river also contributed to the extinction.