Western black rhino declared extinct (in the wild)

[mr friendly guy]

linky

WILD black rhinos were declared extinct, according to the latest assessment by experts at a leading conservation group.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature said the western black rhino, native to West Africa, no longer exists and claimed that a quarter of all other mammal species are at risk of extinction.

Its updated "red list" of threatened species, the gold standard for animal and plant conservation, classified the Central African white rhino as "possibly extinct in the wild," and the Javan rhino is also making a last stand after Vietnamese poachers killed the last of its subspecies last year.

"Human beings are stewards of the earth, and we are responsible for protecting the species that share our environment," Simon Stuart, head of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, said in a statement.

He added, "In the case of both the western black and the northern white rhinos, the situation could have had very different results if suggested conservation measures had been implemented."

Positive developments included the reintroduction of Central Asia's Przewalski's horse (pictured below) which has moved from a status of critically endangered to endangered thanks to a successful captive breeding and reintroduction program.

Are there any cases of animals who have been declared extinct in the wild reintroduced to it successfully?

[madd0ct0r]

wolves, beavers, otters, buzzards, ospreys,

not extinct completey, but successfully reintroduced to areas where they' died out, in some cases hundreds of years ago.

[Broomstick]

Black footed ferrets? California Condors? Although the "success" of the condors is still under question.

The black footed ferret was actually believed to be extinct in 1979 until one turned up (dead, unfortunately) in 1981. Since then, a captive breeding program combined with re-introduction has resulted in over 1,000 wild-born individuals as of now, and four self-sustaining populations in the western United States. Several sites in Canada have been selected for additional populations and the first kit since Canadian re-introduction was born in Saskatchewan recently. They're still endangered, but are coming back from the brink. All currently alive are descendants of captive breeding as they did, in fact, go extinct in the wild in the early 1980's.

The California condor was down to 22 individuals total when the last wild one was captured in 1987. Starting in 1991, captive-bred condors were released into California and the Grand Canyon. Since the early '00's there have been a few chicks born in the wild from these re-establishing populations, although they are not yet self-sustaining and captive-born birds are still being added to them. Again, all condors currently alive are either one of those 22 individuals in captivity (some of which were born wild) or the result of captive breeding. All currently in the wild are descendents of captive breeding.

However, these captive-breeding and subsequent reintroduction programs are enormously expensive. Millions of dollars per year, and the full time dedication of those involved in the programs.

Bottom line - it's possible for a species extinct in the wild to be "resurrected" via captive breeding and release back into the wild, but it's rare, expensive, and difficult even in a wealthy, first-world country. A key factor for both the ferrets and condors is that their environments still existed for them to be re-established in. If a species is wiped out due to lack of proper habitat all bets are off.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

linky

WILD black rhinos were declared extinct, according to the latest assessment by experts at a leading conservation group.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature said the western black rhino, native to West Africa, no longer exists and claimed that a quarter of all other mammal species are at risk of extinction.

Its updated "red list" of threatened species, the gold standard for animal and plant conservation, classified the Central African white rhino as "possibly extinct in the wild," and the Javan rhino is also making a last stand after Vietnamese poachers killed the last of its subspecies last year.

"Human beings are stewards of the earth, and we are responsible for protecting the species that share our environment," Simon Stuart, head of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, said in a statement.

He added, "In the case of both the western black and the northern white rhinos, the situation could have had very different results if suggested conservation measures had been implemented."

Positive developments included the reintroduction of Central Asia's Przewalski's horse (pictured below) which has moved from a status of critically endangered to endangered thanks to a successful captive breeding and reintroduction program.

Are there any cases of animals who have been declared extinct in the wild reintroduced to it successfully?

Only if there were viable populations in captivity beforehand. Which, according to a quick web search, is not the case for the Western Black Rhino (of which, there are no known individuals to exist in captivity, at all.)

[The Romulan Republic]

This is horrible and tragic, to loose a species forever. Sadly, it has happened before and will happen again, more times than we will ever know.

[SpaceMarine93]

Eventually, we will be next, unless we change our ways. But the people won't change habits they are absolutely comfortable with, and that's the problem.

So here's the agenda: How do we force human civilization to change for the sake of the Environment? Assuming of course that it be done by any means necessary.

[Purple]

We don't. Not without something insane like a despotic world dictatorship or a massive environmental deterioration like Soilent Green. You can't convince people to accept less when they could have more just for the sake of the future. It is against our nature. Hell, the entire consumerist capitalist system is built around the notion of take what you can now and screw the future. Just the social engineering it would take to work that out of the system in the western countries, the greatest contributors to environmental decay would be insane.

The only reliable way to make people settle for less historically was to force them. And that does more harm than good.

[Imperial528]

Eventually, we will be next, unless we change our ways. But the people won't change habits they are absolutely comfortable with, and that's the problem.

So here's the agenda: How do we force human civilization to change for the sake of the Environment? Assuming of course that it be done by any means necessary.

We, as a society, can't do any forcing, not really. As Purple said, when human civilization has forced change on itself, it often ends badly, and even if the end result is good for all, you can be sure the trip getting to it sure as hell wasn't.

The only choices we have is to either convince those who currently do control civilization that we need to take action to counteract the damaging things we do and rely on generational learning to eventually cease damaging the environment, or wait until it gets so bad that we have to act to survive as a species.

We can't change the habits of people living now, not as a whole. But we can get the ball rolling such that later generations will not have such destructive habits, and then hope that it lasts. In the mean time, we can organize those who are willing to change their habits and those willing to take action to be damage control until a balance is achieved.

It is very rare that there is one "turning point" that changes everything and fixes all our problems, and even rarer that such an event is peaceful. So don't put your hopes in that, because it's just a pipe dream, and a terribly optimistic one at that.

[Number Theoretic]

Sure, things are far from perfect. But then again, humans have proven in the past that they are able to adapt, so i'm positive that we won't go extinct anytime soon. Because if they absolutely have to, even humans can change or rethink their ways Even if they tend to adapt the environment instead of themselves.

[Ziggy Stardust]

With regards to human extinction, we are at the point where only a massive cataclysm could destroy our species, one which would also set the proverbial "reset" button on the entire planet (unless it is destroyed entirely). I don't know of any combination of environmental triggers that could possibly drive us to extinction. We need asteroids, aliens, nuclear annihilation, and other world-wide cataclysms to get rid of us.

[Batman]

Humanity doesn't have (and never had) the nuclear arsenal to get rid of itself. Full scale nuclear war, even at the peak of the Cold War, would nevertheless have left a plethora of survivors, and with the shift from countervalue to counterforce thanks to more accurate delivery vehicles and the overall reduction in available warheads this is even more true nowadays. While I do think mankind has the means to remove itself from the equation, at this point, we'd pretty much have to do it on purpose.

And how in Valen's name does one build a viable population with a starting base of 22?

[Broomstick]

And how in Valen's name does one build a viable population with a starting base of 22?

Controlled breeding to maximize genetic diversity, up to and including extracting and freezing gametes for future artificial conception purposes (not sure if we've gotten that perfected for birds, yet).

It is a hell of a genetic bottleneck, 'tis true. The jury is still out on the long-term survival of the California condor.