Death of Rare Rhino Leaves Only 4 in Existence

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.care2.com/causes/death-of-rare-rhino-leaves-only-4-in-existence.html

by Alicia Graef July 31, 2015 5:30 pm



This week wildlife advocates are mourning the loss of an incredibly rare female white rhino, whose death now leaves only four of her kind in existence.

Nabiré, a 31-year-old northern white rhino, died on Monday at the Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic where she had spent her entire life. According to the zoo, she passed after suffering health complications from an untreatable cyst that ruptured.

“It is a terrible loss. Nabiré was the kindest rhino ever bred in our zoo. It is not just that we were very fond of her. Her death is a symbol of the catastrophic decline of rhinos due to a senseless human greed. Her species is on the very brink of extinction,” Přemysl Rabas, the director of the zoo, said in a statement.

Much attention has been paid to the rapid decline of rhinos due to poaching, but now it’s looking like the world is on the verge of losing the northern white rhino forever. There were believed to be an estimated 2,000 of these rhinos as recently as 1960, but the demand for their horns led to them being poached to extinction in the wild by 1984.

FULL story at link.

[VanillaRhapsody]

1. Just visited the only 2 left on the Masaai Mara

Victoria and her son.....an armed security team follow them everywhere.....so sad to see them go...