Sad, very sad! Another animal to be added on the extinction list of my website! I will also create an information page for this animal.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The IUCN News Release:West African black rhino feared extinct While four of the six African rhino subspecies are recovering, new surveys fail to locate any West African black rhinos, and find no more than four northern white rhinos
Gland, Switzerland, 07 July 2006 (IUCN) – While most subspecies of Africa’s two rhinos, the black and white rhino, continue on the road to recovery, this is not true for two of Africa’s most threatened rhino subspecies: the West African black (Diceros bicornis longipes) and the northern white (Ceratotherium simum cottoni). The West African black rhino is now feared extinct and numbers of the northern white rhino have reached an all time low in the wild. In both cases, poaching for rhino horn is the main cause of their demise.
This is according to new estimates announced by the African Rhino Specialist Group (AfRSG) of the IUCN’s Species Survival Commission. An intensive survey earlier this year of the West African black rhino has failed to locate any sign of their continued presence in their last refuges in northern Cameroon.
“As a result this subspecies has been tentatively declared as extinct,” says Dr Martin Brooks , AfRSG chairman . “Also the northern white rhino is on the very brink of being lost. Restricted in the wild to Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo , recent ground and aerial surveys conducted under the direction of African Parks Foundation and the AfRSG have only found four animals. Efforts to locate further animals continue, but we must now face the possibility that the subspecies may not recover to a viable level,” he continued.
On a more positive note, continental black rhino numbers have increased to 3,725 as a whole, a rise of 3.2% over the last two years: this from an all time low of 2,410 in 1995. The ultimate conservation success story continues for the other white rhino subspecies, the southern white. Down to less than 50 animals a hundred or so years ago, numbers have increased to 14,540.
At its recent meeting in Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, Swaziland, opened by King Mswati III, Ngwenyama of Swaziland, and sponsored by UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the AfRSG shared experiences in rhino management and reintroduction techniques, and discussed a wide variety of topics. Good progress was made towards the creation of a rhino management group to enhance collaboration between East African countries, holistic guidelines for guiding rhino reintroductions were drafted, and African range states supplied much of the data to enable the AfRSG to report on rhino status and illegal trade to the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Poaching for rhino horn remains the primary threat to rhinos. It has been responsible for the dramatic decline of northern white rhinos since 2003. It is a truism that rhinos, like elephants, are amongst the first species to suffer once security declines, and they are particularly vulnerable to economic and political instability.
“In a climate of declining conservation budgets,” Dr Martin Brooks added, “it is good to note that two public private partnerships are bringing generous funding and institutional support for the creation of new large and genetically viable black rhino populations in North Luangwa , Zambia , and KwaZulu-Natal , South Africa . However, such interventions are not always possible; African Range States need to strive for self-sufficiency and the integration of these flagship species and areas into their regional economies if the distribution and numbers are not to decline in future.”
Notes to editors
All African rhino species and sub-species:
Black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis – 4 recognized subspecies
South-central Africa black rhino Diceros bicornis ssp. minor
South-western Africa back rhino Diceros bicornis ssp. bicornis
West African black rhino Diceros bicornis ssp. longipes
East African black rhino Diceros bicornis ssp. michaeli
White rhino Ceratotherium simum – 2 recognized subspecies
Southern white rhino Ceratotherium simum ssp. simum
Northern white rhino Ceratotherium simum ssp. cottoni
For more information or to set up interviews, please contact:
Dr Martin Brooks, Chair, IUCN SSC African Rhino Specialist Group, Tel: +27 (0)33 3471100,
email: rhinopmbtelkomsa.net
Dr Richard Emslie, Scientific Officer, IUCN SSC African Rhino Specialist Group, Tel: +27 (0)33 3434065,
email: emslieafrsgtelkomsa.net
Carolin Wahnbaeck , Global Media Relations Officer, The World Conservation Union (IUCN),
Tel: +41 22 999 0127, e-mail: carolin.wahnbaeckiucn.org, Web:
www.iucn.org Photos available upon request from carolin.wahnbaeckiucn.org.
About the World Conservation Union (IUCN)
Created in 1948, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) brings together 81 States, 120 government agencies, 800 plus NGOs, and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries in a unique worldwide partnership. The Union ’s mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.
The Union is the world's largest environmental knowledge network and has helped over 75 countries to prepare and implement national conservation and biodiversity strategies. The Union is a multicultural, multilingual organization with 1,000 staff located in 62 countries. Its headquarters are in Gland , Switzerland .
More information can be found at
www.iucn.orgThe IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) and Species Programme
The Species Survival Commission (SSC) is the largest of IUCN’s six volunteer commissions with a global membership of 7,000 experts. SSC advises IUCN and its members on the wide range of technical and scientific aspects of species conservation and is dedicated to securing a future for biodiversity. SSC has significant input into the international agreements dealing with biodiversity conservation.
The IUCN Species Programme supports the activities of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and individual Specialist Groups, as well as implementing global species conservation initiatives. The Species Programme includes a number of technical units covering Wildlife Trade, the Red List, Freshwater Biodiversity Assessments, (all located in Cambridge, UK), and the Global Biodiversity Assessment Initiative (located in Washington DC, USA).
More information can be found at
www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/Source:
www.iucn.org/en/news/archive/2006/07/7_pr_rhino.htm.
