The World Says Goodbye to the Newly Extinct Black Rhinos

It was announced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that the rhinos status would be changed from critically endangered to extinct; a fate shared by its cousin the Western Black Rhino in 2011.
Sadly, this wasn’t exactly news at all to those involved in the decade long attempt to save not only the black rhinoceros, but all species of the mammal, from extinction. While losses of habitat land and natural disasters have plagued rhinoceros across Africa, China and Southeastern Asia, their biggest threat has long been Humans.
With the hunting of rhinos largely banned since the late ’70s, the demand for rhino horn to be used in traditional Chinese medicine and for the newly claimed benefit of curing cancer (which is completely unverified) is still enough for poachers to break the law, to the great detriment of rhinoceros worldwide. From 2008 until mid 2011, 776 rhinos were killed in South Africa alone, where poachers use GPS, helicopters, and semi-automatic weapons to hunt with.



While there are still a number of Black Rhinos living on Earth, their numbers are so low that the classification of extinction demonstrates their chances of survival are virtually nonexistent. Conservation efforts continue to at least attempt to breed the animals in captivity, though they would still be considered extinct.


It was announced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that the rhinos status would be changed from critically endangered to extinct; a fate shared by its cousin the Western Black Rhino in 2011.
Sadly, this wasn’t exactly news at all to those involved in the decade long attempt to save not only the black rhinoceros, but all species of the mammal, from extinction. While losses of habitat land and natural disasters have plagued rhinoceros across Africa, China and South-Eastern Asia, their biggest threat has long been Humans.
With the hunting of rhinos largely banned since the late ’70s, the demand for rhino horn to be used in traditional Chinese medicine and for the newly claimed benefit of curing cancer (which is completely unverified) is still enough for poachers to break the law, to the great detriment of rhinoceros worldwide. From 2008 until mid 2011, 776 rhinos were killed in South Africa alone, where poachers use GPS, helicopters, and semi-automatic weapons to hunt with.
While there are still a number of Black Rhinos living on Earth, their numbers are so low that the classification of extinction demonstrates their chances of survival are virtually non-existent. Conservation efforts continue to at least attempt to breed the animals in captivity, though they would still be considered extinct.




Original Article @: http://www.geekexchange.com/the-world-says-good-bye-to-the-black-rhino-90889.html