Africa’s Western Black Rhino officially declared extinct

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has officially declared Africa’s Western Black Rhino to be extinct, and says that two others – the Northern White Rhino of central Africa and the Javan Rhino – are probably also extinct.

The Northern White Rhino once roamed parts of Uganda, Chad, South Sudan, the Central African Republican and the DRC, but poaching puts its survival at risk in the 70’s. A conservation programme brought it back from the brink of extinction by 2000. But the last four wild specimens, in the DRC’s Garamba National Park, have not been seen for many years, and the species is now believed to be extinct in the wild.

There are three captive Northern White Rhinos, in the Czech Republican and at San Diego Zoo in California. The animals are difficult to breed and it’s by no means certain that these small populations can be preserved.