HANOI: A critically
endangered species of rhinoceros has been poached to extinction in
Vietnam, wildlife groups said Tuesday after determining that a Javan
rhino found dead last year was the last of its kind.
The WWF and
the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) pronounced the Javan rhinoceros
extinct in Vietnam after all dung samples in a 2009 and 2010 survey at
Cat Tien National Park were confirmed to have been from the same animal.
The
park was the only known habitat in Vietnam for the Javan rhino, which
is slightly smaller than its counterparts living in Africa, India and
Nepal and described by the WWF as "probably the rarest large mammal on
the planet".
"The last Javan rhino in Vietnam has gone," said
Tran Thi Minh Hien, WWF Vietnam country director. "Vietnam has lost part
of its natural heritage."
WWF said poaching was the likely cause
of death for the rhino, which was found in April 2010 with a gunshot
wound to its leg and its horn hacked off in Cat Tien, around 160
kilometres (100 miles) from Ho Chi Minh City in the south.
The
group said "ineffective protection by the park was ultimately the cause
of the extinction" and warned that illegal hunting to supply the
wildlife trade threatened the futures of other rare animals in the
country.
"The tragedy of the Vietnamese Javan rhinoceros is a sad
symbol of this extinction crisis," said Nick Cox of WWF's species
programme in the Greater Mekong.
Rhinos are one of the most
sought after species for traditional medicine in Asia, with the horn
fetching as much as $100,000 per kilogramme ($45,000 per pound),
according to WWF. Many in Vietnam believe horn can cure cancer.
At
a press conference in Hanoi, Cox said it was "incredible" that people
would pay such large sums for the horns, when they are made from the
same substance as human fingernails and have "no medicinal value".
Tran
Van Thanh, of the Ministry of Health's department of traditional
medicine said most practitioners did not believe that rhino horn was an
effective remedy, but added that "rich people can get anything" making
the trade "difficult to stop".
The rhinoceros was believed to be
extinct on mainland Asia until 1988 when one of the animals was hunted
from the Cat Tien area, leading to the discovery of a small population.
Javan rhinos are critically endangered, with barely 50 individuals left in a single group in a small national park in Indonesia.
WWF
said Asia's voracious demand for rhino horn continues to increase every
year, meaning "protection and expansion of the Indonesian population is
the highest priority".
Vietnam held talks with South Africa last
month as the African nation battles soaring rhino poaching. South
Africa saw 333 rhinos killed for their horns last year and has already
lost over 300 in 2011, compared with just 13 in 2007.
Other species on the verge of extinction in Vietnam include the tiger, Asian elephant and Siamese crocodile, WWF said.
- AFP/fa
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is poaching punishable by death?
if it isnt it is high time they make it so to deter those people from killing animals to extinction.
will only work if you practice the Manchu 诛��. Then no one will try to poach, since if they are caught, there won't be anyone left in the family to enjoy whatever money they earned.
Overpopulation is one big problem. 7 billion soon.
Economy and ecology move in opposite direction.
Peninsular Malaysia also lost their last Sumatran rhino in 2009 survey, their demise is just awaiting official release.
Originally posted by Clivebenss:Overpopulation is one big problem. 7 billion soon.
Economy and ecology move in opposite direction.
World War 1 was fought because there were 'too many people' and countries need more land. The world population back then was only 1.7billion. And that was considered as too much people.
Now, the world has exceed 6 billion people. It is disturbing to think that nature no longer has any means to reset the equilibrium. Even if something calamitic happens and manage to wipe out 90% of humans, there will still be over 600millions left, which is still too many to count.
You can wipe out 99%, and there will still be 60million people, enough for the world to continue functioning.
At 99.9%,you have 6million left. We can still sustain a civilisation. Look at the Romans. They had civilised Europe, with a population of under 1m.
Humanity's worst disease, the Black Death, was only able to wipe out 30-60% of the population. Our population has grown too vast for nature to reset to equilibrium. Nothing short of an alien invasion can effectively reduce our population to more sustainable levels.
Perhaps, even aliens will be engulfed by 6 billion greedy, hungry mouths.
educate the people cosuming the products, as well as those involved in killing the rhinos. Though i found "..... it was "incredible" that people would pay such large sums for the horns, when they are made from the same substance as human fingernails and have "no medicinal value" to be interesting....
sometimes the people who kill these animals have to do so in order to survive - otherwise they have very little options for adequate income. Not saying this is always the case, but it's a possibility.
I would assume WWF's objective is to save the animals, so an article like this would be to highlight the related issues. Any other (relevant) factors in the background won't be included.
Just nuke the whole china and US. rest will take care of itself. Chinese selfishness kills and tortures all the animals and US is raping the whole world with consumption.
Originally posted by Bio-Hawk:Just nuke the whole china and US. rest will take care of itself. Chinese selfishness kills and tortures all the animals and US is raping the whole world with consumption.
you mean china and US nuke us right?
its because cheenaland and banglaland too many people. they spread diesease, bochaip and build a culture, distroy nature and steal other humans jobs. they keep multiplying like fleas. please gahmen of such lands. go die off more of your people lah.
Originally posted by troublemaker2005:its because cheenaland and banglaland too many people. they spread diesease, bochaip and build a culture, distroy nature and steal other humans jobs. they keep multiplying like fleas. please gahmen of such lands. go die off more of your people lah.
China I agree. Do u even know the total population og Bangladesh?
The biggest consumers/polluters are USA and China. Period.
Originally posted by troublemaker2005:its because cheenaland and banglaland too many people. they spread diesease, bochaip and build a culture, distroy nature and steal other humans jobs. they keep multiplying like fleas. please gahmen of such lands. go die off more of your people lah.
Bangladesh is not overpopulated.