Last male northern white rhino dies

These creatures are like amazing giants of a bygone age… and I do hope that the 2 remaining females can be “helped” to reproduce.

An uncle was involved in a successful project to preserve the Southern White Rhino in South Africa…many years ago… which is, of course, ongoing…

He would be horrified at today’s news… great pity the Northern was not within his remit. :zipper_mouth_face:

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https://www.savetherhino.org/africa_programmes/hluhluwe-imfolozi_park_south_africa

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This is so so sad. A real tragedy. What are we humans doing to our precious planet? There can be no hope for this sub-species now, the gene pool is just too small. And Trump thinks trophy hunting on a “case-by-case” basis is OK. It sickens me :cry::rage:

horrifying that it came down to this.

It is rather sobering to thing that after massive poisoning of the primordial atmosphere with oxygen, meteor &asteroid strikes, massive natural methane emissions, glaciation and massive volcanic eruption the next mass extinction might be caused by human activity.

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Giraffes are now threatened with extinction by cretinous vandals in the shape of American ‘trophy hunters’.
Appalling.

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I think you will find these folks are from across the globe including British people.

Although if I was an American I might find your words a tad on the strong side.

Another worry

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I am actually quoting, when I say ‘American’ Harry. Cretinous vandals is, however, a value judgment that applies whatever the nationality and I stand by it.

History
Science
News

Giraffes On Way To “Silent Extinction” Due To American Trophy Hunting, Conservationists Say
By All That’s Interesting
Published April 19, 2017
Updated March 20, 2018
The giraffe population in sub-Saharan Africa has seen a sharp 40% drop in the past 30 years, largely caused by American tourists “trophy hunting.”
Giraffes Extinction
Stephanie Pilick/AFP/Getty Images

The giraffe population in sub-Saharan Africa has seen a sharp 40% drop in the past 30 years, largely caused by American tourists “trophy hunting.”

With just 97,500 of the world’s tallest animal remaining, conservationists are insisting the U.S. government officially classify giraffes as endangered in order to prevent their “silent extinction.”

Americans imported 21,402 giraffe bone carvings, 3,008 skin pieces and 3,744 miscellaneous hunting trophies over the past decade — souvenirs that cost 3,700 giraffes their lives, according to analyses of import data.

Along with the recreational hunting, giraffes face habitat loss, poaching, and collisions with cars and power lines.

The endangered species classification would mean that any hunter traveling to Africa from the U.S. (the vast majority of recreational giraffe hunters are American) would need to somehow prove their hunting had a conservational purpose before bringing a giraffe trophy back to the States.

The decline of giraffes has been overshadowed in recent years by the poaching crisis targeting elephants and rhinos.

As environmental groups focused their efforts on that cause, though, it seems the seriousness of the threat to giraffes has gone under the radar. Now, officials are shocked to realize that there are actually fewer giraffes than elephants roaming the African plains.

“When I was doing research on giraffes in Kenya a few years ago, they were quite abundant and no one questioned that they were doing well,” Jeff Flocken, the North America regional director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, told the Guardian. “Only recently have we looked at them critically and seen this huge drop, which has been a shock to the conservation community. This is an iconic animal and it’s in deep trouble.”

The refocus on protecting the graceful, long-necked creatures has been triggered, in part, by the images of trophy hunters and their prey spreading through the Internet.

In August, a photo of a 12-year-old hunter Aryanna Gourdin holding up the slumped head of a dead giraffe caused a social media firestorm.

Giraffe Hunt
Facebook
12-year-old Aryanna Gourdin and the giraffe she killed on a trip to Africa.

While the image horrified many environmentalists, other Americans applauded Gourdin’s hobby. She has since amassed over 50,000 social media followers.

“Although there are flaws in the current system, (poachers posing as ethical hunters for example), trophy hunting remains the only effective way to obtain money for conservation efforts,” she argued in response to the backlash.

Regardless of the motivation behind the hunts, environmentalists feel that government regulation is necessary.

“Currently, no US or international law protects giraffes against overexploitation for trade,” Masha Kalinina, a Humane Society specialist, said. “It is clearly time to change this. As the largest importer of trophies in the world, the role of the United States in the decline of this species is undeniable, and we must do our part to protect these animals.”

Five groups joined together to file a legal petition with the US Fish and Wildlife Service this week to grant giraffes the endangered classification. The federal organization now has 90 days to respond — though the process of granting status can take longer than a year.

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while i understand that labelling one particular country ourselves can be seen in another light, always better to just link the original website or post where the comment was made.

Lets look at all the ex pats who original went to Africa and hunting wild game while we essentially took over their country.

big game hunters famous, mainly British: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famous_big_game_hunters

I could go on, yes the news focus is always on Americans but it is far from just an American issue.

I think “cretinous vandals” should apply to anyone who indulges in big game hunting.

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think that is too nice a term for them.

You don’t actually read what I post, do you Harry. :thinking: