The last male northern white rhino gets a full armed guard.

This makes me so sad and angry at the same time. What the hell are poachers doing to this planet wildlife. A beautiful creature but the last of its kind.

What is it like to look at the very last of something? To contemplate the passing of a unique wonder that will soon vanish from the face of the earth? You are seeing it. Sudan is the last male northern white rhino on the planet. If he does not mate successfully soon with one of two female northern white rhinos at Ol Pejeta conservancy, there will be no more of their kind, male or female, born anywhere. And it seems a slim chance, as Sudan is getting old at 42 and breeding efforts have so far failed. Apart from these three animals there are only two other northern white rhinos in the world, both in zoos, both female.

It seems an image of human tenderness that Sudan is lovingly guarded by armed men who stand vigilantly and caringly with him. But of course it is an image of brutality. Even at this last desperate stage in the fate of the northern white rhino, poachers would kill Sudan if they could and hack off his horn to sell it on the Asian medicine market.

Sudan doesn’t know how precious he is. His eye is a sad black dot in his massive wrinkled face as he wanders the reserve with his guards. His head is a marvellous thing. It is a majestic rectangle of strong bone and leathery flesh, a head that expresses pure strength. How terrible that such a mighty head can in reality be so vulnerable. It is lowered melancholically beneath the sinister sky, as if weighed down by fate. This is the noble head of an old warrior, his armour battered, his appetite for struggle fading.

www.theguardian.com...

Why isn't cloning happening!? Make five of him, five of each female and there you go! Breeding stock.

We are a disgusting species, a cancer to this planet.

This makes me so mad!

Would it not be possible to extract the males sperm, and inseminate a female ?

Talk about being lonely...Sad

originally posted by: superman2012
Why isn't cloning happening!? Make five of him, five of each female and there you go! Breeding stock.

You've got a good point there. Cloning should play a part.

a reply to: EnigmaAgent

They need to go after the markets wherever they are. The buyers are the real problem and criminals not the poor buggers who do the poaching kill for the next meal.

a reply to: superman2012

You would be better off with only one or two males, but several females. That's just good husbandry.

Besides, anything less than probably three dozen males and ten dozen females, would be well below the minimum viable population. Even that would be pushing it.

Nothing has changed the face of the planet, in the known history, as much as man has in the past 500 years. Sadly, the majority of the changes have not been for the better. I am not a environmentalist by any means, but if you step back and look at what we have done, who wouldn't shed a tear?

originally posted by: flammadraco
We are a disgusting species, a cancer to this planet.

This makes me so mad!

Speak for yourself. I am awesome!

originally posted by: superman2012
Why isn't cloning happening!? Make five of him, five of each female and there you go! Breeding stock.

I imagine nothing is truely extinct anymore. we have dna of pretty much all endangered species on earth (well, many anyhow) and have the power to resurrect them should they die out..down the line though
no need to immediately bring em back if they will just be re-hunted to extinction. costs about 100k to clone a dog...most likely the same to clone a rhino (or more)

That animal is now worth millions.. So much so I could see poachers killing those guards to get to it.
Such a shame we are seeing the last of a species, and he is obvioulsly oblivious to how special he really is..

a reply to: Misterlondon

I agree with you. Perhaps in this case the Rhino is placed in a Zoo for its own protection ;(

originally posted by: SaturnFX

originally posted by: flammadraco
We are a disgusting species, a cancer to this planet.

This makes me so mad!

Speak for yourself. I am awesome!

There's an exception to everything!

originally posted by: Mianeye
Would it not be possible to extract the males sperm, and inseminate a female ?

Talk about being lonely...Sad

Are you volunteering!? lol

originally posted by: Misterlondon
That animal is now worth millions.. So much so I could see poachers killing those guards to get to it.
Such a shame we are seeing the last of a species, and he is obvioulsly oblivious to how special he really is..

How can one be so sure that such a majestic creature is oblivious of its total isolation and loneliness?

I'm sure he knows to some extent, why humans are watching over him.

I agree with a previous poster... It's for something like this that cloning should be used. This animal wouldn't be nearly extinct had it not been for human intervention. Saddens me to see.

~Namaste

a reply to: EnigmaAgent


Anyone caught poaching should lose all money and property for 3 generations......Suffering is the only cure these scum bags can understand. Make them suffer make the people they love suffer.

wwf.panda.org...

I hope they can figure out a way of conservation as was done with the southern white rhino.

originally posted by: Misterlondon

... and he is obvioulsly oblivious to how special he really is..

What makes you think that? Because he's "just an animal"?

That's the kind of thinking that led us to this disgusting situation.

I don't think we give most animals nearly enough credit for the intelligence they possess. If you're the last of your kind, you'll know it. I'm sure this guy is all too aware. Just because he can't articulate it in a way we understand doesn't mean he doesn't know.

a reply to: superman2012

I thought, at this point, that cloning produced sterile animals.

Am I wrong?

originally posted by: flammadraco
We are a disgusting species, a cancer to this planet.

This makes me so mad!

Yet, in the same story, it describes people willing to risk their lives to protect the animal.

There's always a ray of sunshine--it's just too often that the most disgusting of our species act so swiftly that the good cannot react in time.