Western Black Rhino Declared Extinct

[Seedersandleechers]

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Africa’s western black rhino is now officially extinct. After being a victim of increasingly devastating poaching and seeing little to no conservation efforts, the species is now gone, and others – including the northern white rhino and Asia’s Javan rhino – are expected to swiftly follow unless efforts to stop the senseless killing of them prevail.

The black rhino had not been seen in West Africa since 2006, and had been on the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species since then.

“The situation could have had very different results if the suggested conservation measures had been implemented,” said Simon Stuart, chair of the IUCN species survival commission. “These measures must be strengthened now, specifically managing habitats in order to improve performance, preventing other rhinos from fading into extinction.”

J
http://earthfirstnews.wordpress.com/2013/05/07/western-black-rhino-declared-extinct/




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[Marrah_G]

1. So sad

[bluedigger]

2. All that money wasted on the War on Drugs.

[flamingdem]

3. Poaching for the horns

Pathetic humans

[ladjf]

6. I have read that the two biggest markets for the horns are 1) to enhance male erections (which is

based on a myth and 2) dagger handles , reasons unknown.

[Orrex]

7. "What's the harm?"

[AtomicKitten]

4. Last rhinos killed in Mozambique with the help of game wardens

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/mozambique/10028738/Last-rhinos-in-Mozambique-killed-by-poachers.html

[ladjf]

5. Please rhino horn purchasers, switch to Viagra if erection is your problem or plastic if you want

dagger handles. We are killing off all rhinos based on myths.

[Rex]

8. Money is the root of all evil.

Say goodbye to another species.

[progressoid]

9. ...

[BlueCheese]

10. It seems that this happened in 2011.

I'm not sure why that publication is mentioning it as news.

While this is very sad and aggravating news (we kill these beautiful animals for dagger handles? alternative "medicine"?), it may help to know that the western black rhino is a subspecies, not a species, and as such the black rhino itself is not extinct. It is, however, critically endangered.

[proud patriot]

11. Crying here .... I despise China for their ridiculous killing off of our precious creatures.

It truly infuriates me .

[Recursion]

12. That was 2 years ago, but it's still sad. It also wasn't a species

It was a subspecies of D bicornis, which is critically endangered but not extinct.