The last 3 of the world’s rarest rhinos are unable to breed – ‘Human greed and ego have slaughtered this species to the point of irreversible catastrophe’
By Tisha Wardlow
18 March 2015 (The Dodo) – Plan A was to make conditions as perfect as possible to breed the last remaining northern white rhinos. Ol Pejeta did everything they could to make that a possibility. Plan B was to cross-breed the northern whites with the southern whites to at least perpetuate this precious gene pool. Somehow they would still live on; their genes remaining part of rhino populations to come. But for the last living male, named Sudan, and the two remaining females, Najin and daughter Fatu, this will not be an option. All three are getting on in age. Najin (25 years old) has weak knees and cannot endure the breeding attempts. In a cruel twist of fate, Fatu (14) is infertile, and Sudan (38) has weak sperm. So now what? There’s no superman, no magical 11th hour miracle, no known options left to us. This is extinction. Watch, appreciate and admire them while they breathe. Human greed and ego have slaughtered this species to the point of irreversible catastrophe. We are witnessing the last of the northern white rhinos. It is inevitable. But the big question is: will we learn from it? Will we allow it to happen again? [more]
