- Western Black Rhino Is Extinctjosh's Pancake House
- Western Black Rhino Is Extinctjosh's Pancake Mix
- Western Black Rhino Is Extinctjosh's Pancake Made
Rhinoceros poaching is at an all time high. Of the five remaining species of rhinoceros, three are considered to be critically endangered. If illegal hunting of these pachyderms isn’t curbed soon, then they may disappear forever.
Established in 1964, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species. The Western Black Rhino of Africa has been declared officially extinct, a leading conservation group has said. T wo other subspecies of rhinoceros are close to meeting the same fate, it warned.
South Africa, the country with the largest population of rhinos, has seen an astounding increase in reported poaching incidents. In 2014, at least 1,215 rhinos were killed illegally — whereas just ten years prior there were only ten recorded occurrences of rhino poaching.
Rhinoceros poaching, however, is not isolated to South Africa — it is widespread throughout the continent, and is primarily driven by a sizable demand for rhinoceros’ keratin horns.
Rhino horns, which are made from the same material as your hair and fingernails, are used as a sort of cure-all in a number of Asian cultures — although there is no evidence to substantiate claims that it can cure anything. Any suggestion that a rhino horn has any medicinal value is based entirely on superstition.
But superstition can be powerful. In Vietnam, rhino horn is worth as much as $100,000 per kilogram — even more than gold. Rhino horn is used as a party drug, a cancer cure, and a status symbol by some of the wealthiest Vietnamese citizens.
Western Black Rhino Is Extinctjosh's Pancake House
While the money being shelled out for expensive rhino-horn-laced products has not been proven to actually benefit anyone’s health, the boom in demand means very real consequences for the victims of poaching.
Western Black Rhino Is Extinctjosh's Pancake Mix
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In 2013, the Western black rhino (pictured below) was declared extinct. The last recorded spotting occurred in 2006, and the species was thereafter eradicated, predominantly due to poaching and insufficient conservation efforts.
Recent anti-poaching efforts, however, have garnered some success. Vetpaw has been running a program that hires former U.S. veterans to peacefully educate communities and prevent the illegal hunting of threatened animals — you can find out more about the project right here.
South Africa’s Greater Kurger National Park has employed over two dozen women from surrounding villages to patrol the reserve and educate their communities to prevent domestic poaching. Since the assemblage of the team, known as the Black Mambas, the reserve has only lost two rhinos, and has seen a major drop in snare poaching.
With continued conservation and peaceful anti-poaching efforts, we may yet be able to protect the remaining species of rhinoceros from extinction.
★ Want to Help? ★
Just as South Africa is bridging the gap between conservation and community, the Rhino Fund Uganda and The Rainforest Site are working toward a peaceful end to rhino poaching through education and community programs.
Western Black Rhino Is Extinctjosh's Pancake Made
While just spreading awareness helps, you can do more and directly donate to GreaterGood.org to stop rhino poaching.