Photo © Martin Harvey / WWF-Canon

Rhino poaching deaths continue to increase in South Africa

Despite increased law enforcement efforts, rhino poaching accelerated in South Africa last year. The country lost 448 rhinos to poaching in 2011 - including 19 critically endangered black rhinos, of which fewer than 5,000 remain in the wild. In 2010, 333 South African rhinos were killed by poachers, nearly three times the number killed in 2009.

In October, WWF announced the extinction of rhinos in Vietnam.

Vietnamese Javan rhino now extinct

On 25 October 2011, WWF and the International Rhino Foundation confirmed that the Javan rhinoceros in Vietnam is extinct.

The species was initially believed to be extinct in Vietnam until 1988, when a very small population was found still clinging to existance in Cat Tien National Park. Efforts were made to save this population but poor protection of its habitat ultimately led to its demise. The last Javan rhino in Vietnam was shot and killed in April 2010 and its horn removed.

It is WWF’s highest priority to save the remaining Javan rhinos in Indonesia and the other species in Vietnam – such as the tiger, Asian elephant and endemic species like the saola – that are all at risk of extinction unless law enforcement and protected area management significantly improves.

ecologicalanarchism:

One-third of all animal species are at risk of extinction by 2050 unless greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by 30 percent.

(via nocarbon)