Day 262: Well, we saw that coming - The Extinction of another Species...

 

The rhino, Angalifu, died at 44 of complications linked to his advanced age. The remaining members of her species — another elderly female at the park, two females and a final male living in a Kenya preserve — have failed to successfully reproduce on their own.

“Unfortunately we only had three rhinos here at the park and they were all of an advanced age,” Barbara Durrant, of the San Diego Zoo Institute of Conservation Research, said in a statement of the park’s two decades-long attempt to save the species. “We were not able to get them to breed and we have been sadly watching their species being exterminated in the wild.”

It’s rare that we’re able to count down the remaining days of a species in this way, though extinction itself is an all too common phenomenon — it’s the fate met by 95 percent of species throughout Earth’s 3.5 billion year history. But the northern white rhino, decimated by poaching in Africa and, to a lesser extent, habitat loss, stands as a suitable representative for what experts are calling the Sixth Extinction: a mass die-off of species as both the direct and indirect consequence of human activity.

An analysis published last week in the journal Nature puts that in stark terms: 41 percent of all amphibians, along with 26 percent of mammals and 13 percent of birds, it finds, are now at risk of extinction thanks to us: pollution, overfishing, the introduction of invasive species and the encroachment of agriculture all count among the ways we’re killing them off. If our current rate of loss continues on track, the review found, we face losing 75 percent of Earth’s species within the coming centuries. -

http://www.salon.com/2014/12/15/countdown_to_extinction_there_are_only_5_northern_white_rhinos_left_in_the_world/

So many animals paid the price for the continued human existence and many more will in time to come. Looking at the article above, there are only 5 of these rhino left in the whole world. I read something like this and try to imagine myself in a position of specie extinction. Imagine you were part of a species that was doomed to extinction; only one left knowing when you die all that will remain is a memory – all because of the actions of one race. It is Sad and I feel shame to be human.

It’s done and over and no going back – we have wiped out another animal from existence. And what it took to accomplish something like that? I mean this particular rhino was poached to extinction and the other rhino are soon to follow. It is a fact that more and more Rhinos are being killed every year, its basic math. Despite all the “save the rhino” charities and foundations and all the money being pumped into the booming business – it’s only a matter of time before they all become a simple memory of how great it is to be human.

How do you judge a species? We study animals and based on their general behavior patterns we conclude their particular temperaments and how they are. So let’s look at humans in general and the impact we have on earth and all the shit that we have created. We are sitting with the same shit over and over – always war, famine, poverty, slavery and all those bad things – it’s always here. I’m sorry to say this, but based on the general human behaviors – we are the worst organism to ever live on this planet and the real shame is that humans will be the end of this planet if we continue this complete disregard of life.

Is there a way we can stop this? How do you change human nature? Because that is the big problem – it is in our nature to be destructive. Everything we see on this earth and the outflows of our actions – that is human nature. We change human behavior we change our actions and thus change the world. That starts with you. Change your nature. Change yourself. Change the World.

True Mercy for the Rhinos? A Way permanently End their suffering?

 

We live next to a nature reserve and yesterday I saw 3 rhinos grazing next to the fence of the reserve. I wondered how long they will live and when they will be poached like so many others in South Africa. Why with so many charities already existing to "save the rhino" are rhino poaching's rising?

Rhino poaching is a horrific thing. They shoot the poor animal and then hack of its horn – sometimes the animal is still alive while its horn is being hacked off. All this is done for money, because the worth of that horn is more than gold. For poachers a rhino is basically an animal with golden horns. The horns are sold to those who believe the horn have great medicinal properties.

Let us talk figures. From the year 2000 till 2007 the number of rhino’s poached was under 30 a year. In 2008 the number skyrocketed to 83 which was almost 8 times more than 2007 where only 13 were murdered. Then in 2009 a 122 were killed. In 2010 there were 333 killed. Two years later in 2012 the number doubled to 668 rhinos killed. That is frightening.

Charities

So what is the solution? Is there one? Currently there are a lot of charities raking in money to “save the rhino”, but the figures shows clearly that whatever these charities are doing it is not actually saving the rhino. In fact – many people and companies are actually profiting from this where you donate money and a small portion actually goes towards “saving the rhino”, but most towards companies and people. In the end what the figures show is that the number will continuously increase until all the rhinos are eventually wiped out.

What will we write about the history of the rhino when it’s finally extinct? The rhino was horrifically poached to extinction and suffered greatly based on a belief that it cures cancer and other illnesses. Well done humans.

Dehoring

One method to try and “save the Rhino” is to dehorn them. This requires sedating them and carefully cutting of the horn to make it worthless to poachers. This sounds like a good idea, but unfortunately did not work. You cannot completely remove the horn so when you cut it off there is still a small stump left. That small stump is still very valuably and poachers still killed the dehorned rhinos. Some poachers killed the Dehorned Rhinos simply to make it easier for them to find Horned Rhinos.

Also, the horn grows back. You have to dehorn the poor animal every year to keep it at minimal length. The costs involved to dehorn one rhinos is estimated to be around US$1,000. To dehorn all the rhinos in the Kruger national park only once will cost US$5.8-8.8 million. And not all the Rhinos survive the dehorning process –there are sometimes veterinary complications while the animal is under anesthetic that may result in death. The more frequently the rhinos are immobilized, the greater the risk.

Poisoning the Horn

Another method is injecting poison into the horn so that when people digest the horn it will make them sick, but this requires the rhino to be sedated and not all survive this process.

A Solution?

It would seem that we humans are at a loss. We do not have any way to “save the rhino”. Every year the number increases no matter what is being done to prevent it. No matter what we do the rhinos suffer. Will we give Mercy to the Rhinos? Is there a way to end their suffering permanently? The only mercy we can give them is to kill them all. Shoot them to save them. Kill them before the poachers get to them – because when the poachers get to them they will be hacked to death and left bleeding. Most will protest a solution like this, because it is not humane or morally the right thing to do. But if being humane is being compassionate we can see that humans are not humane. The compassionate thing to do is to make sure that no Rhino suffers ever again – what then would you do to end their suffering?