The Western Black Rhino is now offically extinct. Last seen in Cameroon in 2006, illegal poaching has wiped out this black rhino sub-species.

Western Black Rhino Officially Extinct

Even without ever having seen one, I was truly saddened by this news. Human greed is wrecking our beautiful planet. The poor rhino is just the latest casualty. I sure do miss them.

I have an article going live soon about the white rhino. There are two sub-species. One of those has only 7 rhinos left - all in captivity or semi-captivity. They are considered EW (extinct in the wild) by the IUCN.

The Javan rhino (Indonesia) was recently declared extinct as well.

The market for rhino horns is very strong. I read somewhere they sell for as high as $50,000 USD. That's awfully hard to resist when you may only bring in $300/year.

That is so sad. There must be some way to change those traditions before all the rhinos vanish.

When i saw this on facebook this morning I felt sick.

I can't even talk about it.

I saw a documentary on PBS about 4 northern white rhinos (only 7 exist) being moved from the Czech Republic to Kenya. The goal is to get them in a more natural habitat so they will feel more comfortable and reproduce.

The move went well (that was in 2009) and the rhinos are still doing fine and look better than ever. They are mating, but no babies yet.

Here is where the white rhinos are now - Ol Pejeta Conservancy