Vietnam's rare Javan rhinoceros was declared extinct in that area after poachers killed the last remaining animal in the country for its horns, the World Wildlife Fund said.
“Vietnam must see this loss as another warning sign of its looming wave of species extinctions,” Dr. Barney Long, WWF’s Asian species expert, said in a statement. “The single most important action that is needed to save remaining threatened species like tigers and elephants is protection.”
The country had been struggling to keep the population alive amid widespread poaching that the WWF said was the cause of many Asian rhino species being brought to the "brink of extinction."
The WWF said people in certain parts of Asia believe the horns, when ground down and dissolved in boiling water, help treat typhoid fever or even cancer, the WWF said, noting that there has been no scientific proof of that.
The group said trying to bring the species back into the area won't work.
“Reintroduction of the rhinoceros to Vietnam is not economically or practically feasible," WWF’s Asian Elephant and Rhino Program Coordinator Dr. Christy Williams said. "It is gone from Vietnam forever."
So now, the Javan rhino only exists in one area in the world, according to the WWF.
The Javan rhinoceros is in danger of becoming extinct.
The group reported that there is one population of less than 50 animals in the Ujung Kulon National Park in Java, Indonesia. Now, workers will turn their attention there, working with anti-poaching patrols to hopefully keep the species from going extinct.
“For the Javan rhino, we now have to focus entirely on one site in Indonesia where strengthened protection is needed along with fast-tracking the proposed translocation and habitat management,” Long said.
Well, why didn't the WWF send in "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and the Rock to lay the Smackdown on those poachers Candy-A$$es!!!!
Yaaay! Now the Vietnamese can kick back with a cold brewski and celebrate their triumph over another species! What will they kill next when they get bored again?
Brilliant move, Vietnam.
Poachers should be dealt with harshly! Fines, imprisonment for long periods, and shoot to kill on sight!
How devastating! Poachers and the people caught buying these horns should be executed, period. It is the only way to stop them. Ignorant backward Asians are wiping rhinos all over the world.
Wasn't the pop already screwed once the second-to-last rhino was killed? What's one rhino gonna do, self-impregnate?
People do realize just how primitive we are in this stage oh human history
We will be look upon and judged by children who will one day live in the void of space away from stars looking upon us in saved footage we leave behind that is to be their library visual footage and see us as we see the cavemen in our eyes.Stars with planets able to support life will be only a zoo and visiting place for what animal life we have here to put there.
We should be saving a way to one day bring back what we would have the technology then to do we do not now.
God save us from the fate this animal met from the super volcano in Yellow Stone & grant us the way out of here to leave the Milkyway galaxy before the the collision happens with the galaxy nearest us due to eventually happen.
Look people and be amazed to know your creator is infinity that is the Supreme Intelligence which borders the universe on the other side of it into forever.existence to Existence. No religion yet even realizes that.God grant the wisdom for those to know who have the intelligence now to even ponder the basic thought process it takes to know your location.
The past ones awaited.The present have been told.The future will prosper only with wisdom granted.
These comments are classic!
There needs to be a Stupid link.
Less you forget to all the uneducated, ignorance, narrow view people on this post…Agent Orange!!! In using this product to destroy Vietnam’s jungle plants life, America have also killed and continue to kill millions upon millions of spies including mammals.
RIP sweet rhino
Yeah let's go war with Vietnam....oh wait we did and lost.
who r we to judge what other countries do? dont we have enough to worry about? they eat cause they hungry bow wow wow.
I guess that the Hollywood glitteratti were too busy occupying something or another to notice this real loss.
Big deal Species come, species go.
This species has not gone. It is not extinct. It just no longer lives in that area. Read the article carefully. They say it is "extinct in that area," which is carefully worded to mislead and deceive the reader into becoming alarmed.
If I told you that spiders were now extinct in my basement because I killed all of them, would you be alarmed?
Yes species do disappear. But that is because the environment changes and they can no longer survive. Often they mutate to be able to survive and become a new species. But this species is disappearing because humans are taking their horns for magical potions.
@runfor....I did read the article. 50 left. Just a matter of time. A short time.
I stand by my statement. "Species come, species go."
Surely you both are trolls. I would hope that neither of you are truly this ignorant and small-minded.
cowflop and runforthehills, that is.
I wish you were extinct.
@RunForTheHills – Actually, you should be pretty concerned, especially as your analogy isn't even close to accurate. It's closer to saying that there were about two dozen spiders left in the world, and you just killed the twelve that were in your basement.
Let's all hope that the "CREEP SPECIES" that you belong to goes extinct tomorrow.
To all my detractors who wish me extinct:
Actually, I have been dead for over 20 years.
The grim reaper just doesen't have the ba!!s to come get me!
As Gandhi said:
We must judge a society by the way it treats animals...
Brain-dead for 20 years. That would explain your posts...
Why…..Dr.K …….what an ugly thing to say……I abhor ugliness….....Does this mean we can't be friends? ………..Why….. if I thought you weren't my friend….. I don't know if I could bear it.......
7 billion humans.
Time to thin the human herd.
This willl take the pressure off "mother" nature.
Yup, if these are your views I am fairly certain we could never be friends. Sorry.
"Mother" Nature! You people are fools that have never spent any real time outdoors. Nature is BRUTAL warfare! I am sure you "nature lovers" would be the first to die.
@Dr.K......My heart is breaking. Don't go away sorry. Just go away.