Will We Wake Up Before It's Too Late?

Sudan, the last male northern white rhinoceros, died one year ago today.

What happened to bring this iconic species to the brink of extinction? In a word --- poaching. Northern white rhinos, like so many African species, once were abundant throughout Uganda, Chad, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). But by 1995 only about 30 Northern white rhino remained in DRC’s Garamba National Park. Today only two females survive, making this subspecies functionally extinct. 

If humans are to have any hope of saving this species from extinction, it will be through development of a very complex and expensive in vitro fertilization of a surrogate Southern white rhino female using eggs from the two remaining females and stored Northern white rhino semen. The very endangered black, Sumatran and Javan rhinos are under ever-increasing pressure from habitat loss and/or poaching. 

There could have been as many as 800 Sumatran rhinos remaining in the wild in 1986. Now, just 32 years later, official estimates suggest there are fewer than 80 rhinos, but many experts believe even that figure is overly optimistic, with some stating there could be as few as 30 animals surviving. (Source: Save the Rhino organization). 

 Sadly, the threat of extincting facing rhinos isn't an isolated case. Elephants, giraffes, gorillas, orangutans, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, lions, jaguars, rays, sharks, marine turtles, pangolins, whales, narwhals, hippopotamus and monk seals also are at risk of extinction. 

Poaching of animals to feed the insatiable demands of China, Vietnam and other Asian countries for the body parts of elephants, lions, tigers, rhinoceros to make ivory trinkets, 'magic potions' and 'magic wines' that purportedly cure cancer and increase virility continues unabated. The dumb thing is that rhino horn and pangolin scales are made of keratin -- the same substance of which our hair and fingernails are made. There is nothing curative or magical about keratin, or about lion and tiger bones.

Indeed, some scientists have warned that the earth is well on its way toward a sixth mass extinction. Even bees -- so crucial to food supplies upon which we humans depend -- are facing serious problems. Our oceans are filled with tons of plastic pollution. The current American administration is rolling back a variety of longstanding environmental protections designed to keep our air and water clean and safe. The Endangered Species Act is being weakened and protections removed from wolves. Population growth in many parts of the world, especially in Africa, combined with loss of habitat, put additional pressure on wildlife.

I don't want to live in a world without wildlife, where the air is unfit to breathe and the water is polluted. I want to be able to continue to watch and photograph elephants, leopards, giraffes and other wildlife going about their business as they have for tens of thousands of years. I want to be able to hear wolves howling in Yellowstone, and to catch a glimpse of a magnificent grizzly sow with her cubs. 

I'm glad I am old and won't be around to contemplate living in a world devoid of these animals that place such a key role in a healthy ecosystem. Experts say we have a scant 11 years to take serious action against climate change. 

Will people wake up before it's too late? I'd like to think they will, but I'm not at all optimistic.