GENEVA (AP) — Lax anti-poaching efforts are to blame for the loss of the last wild specimens of Western Black Rhino, leading the rhinoceros subspecies to be declared officially extinct this week, conservationists said Friday.
Researchers estimate about 10 of the long-legged West African variety of Black Rhino survived in Cameroon until 2000. Prized by poachers for their horns, which are used as trophies and in traditional medicine, the Western Black Rhino now exists only in zoos.
• • •
LONDON (Daily Mail) — Demand for rhino horn has surged in recent years among Vietnamese and Chinese who believe it can cure an array of ailments. Horns can now fetch up to £31,000 per pound (about £62,000 per kilogram), a World Wildlife Fund report said today.
A small amount of ground-up powder can bring hundreds of dollars on the black market. Global demand has also increased in the last four to five years as some people have begun to consider rhino horn a remedy for cancer.
In Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, 100 grams (about 7 ounces) of crushed rhino horn retail for about 43 million dong (£1,345). With the average prescription costing 200,000 dong (£6), a rhino horn vendor in the city's bustling old quarter said Monday, requesting anonymity because the practice is illegal here.
• • •
Those who make dire predictions about extinction or global-warming or globalization are dismissed as alarmists or kooks or self-promoters by the ignorant and the willfully blind and the masters of greed. But time has a way of vindicating prophets and indicting their critics. But, by then it’s too late.
Some might wonder what possible connection there could be between extinction and globalization. The message from this prophet is that globalization and the endless pursuit of profit above all else may well lead to the extinction of our own species.
Say good-bye.
©2011 Tom Cordle
The Ark
Big black rhino! Blow your horn!
Tell all the people they done been warned
When the jungles are gone and the rainforests, too
And all the animals have to live in a zoo
When it's one on one and two by two
Will there be any room in the ark for you?
Can't drink the water, can't breathe the air
Food fulla somethin', poison everywhere
Shoulda listened to the Indians, let the buffalo roam
Shoulda treated Momma better, we might still have a home
When it's one on one and two by two
Will there be any room in the ark for you?
Desert on fire! Can't put it out!
People screamin' and cryin', runnin' all about
Take a number, line up and wait
While we have a discussion to determine your fate
When it's one on one and two by two
Will there be any room in the ark for you?
Look out! Lift-off! Blown into space!
With what little is left of this sad human race
Roamin' 'round and 'round the universe, our hat in our hand
Tryin' to find somebody dumb enough to let us land
When it's one on one and two by two
Will there be any room in the ark for you?
Big black rhino! Blow your horn!
Tell all the people they done been warned
When the jungles are gone and the rainforests, too
And all the animals have to live in a zoo
When it's one on one and two by two
Will there be any room in the ark for you?
©1995 Tom Cordle
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Stacey Youdin
Steven J. Gulitti
Ben Sen
Bjorn Philip Beer
Saturn Smith
jmac1949
Salon.com
Comments
I worry more every time I hear some idiot pundit or politician saying global warming doesn't exist, or sneering at environmentalists (who can be extreme...but this is often why, desperation to save a species)...
Globalization is just the most ridiculous excuse for plundering the planet, in my opinion.
I appreciate your sharing the news. We need to know.
Prescient.
Good poem, Tom.
Agreed. It galls me no end when some thoughtless bastard sneers "tree-hugger" as if they was something evil in caring about trees -- are they really so ignorant as to not understand THEY would not exist on this planet without trees? Clearly, they don't comprehend the meaning of the word "dominion".
I'm afraid you're right. The Western Black Rhino has just become the latest canary in a coalmine.
Yes, I saw that picture in my Google image search, and I almost used it on my post.
Our species doesn't comprehend a lot of things, uppermost the world they live in. Pretty much to be expected of a species that thinks they are divinely favored over all others. No surprise.
Rated for the downward spiral.
Your poem was quite ahead of its time.
♥R
I can't tell you how many times I've tried to explain -- to no avail -- to Kindergarten Kristians that the fantastical tale of Noah's Ark is far too important a lesson to be taken literally. By arguing for the ludicrous notion that two of *every" creature could possibly be fitted on one craft -- no matter how large, these people demean themselves and their religion.
Rendered mindless by the delusion that their wisdom myths are literally true (while childishly dismissing every other culture's wisdom myths as mere fairy tales), they miss the larger truth. What is that truth? If humans are a special creation, they have a special duty to be act responsibly when it comes to the rest of creation.
And so go we....spiraling downward
Fusun
Prophet is the most dangerous of occupations
I wonder -- did prehistoric mammals cheer the fall of the dinosaurs?
hyblaean- Julie
Well, at least Man is thoughtful enough to record it when he drives a species to extinction (that's what you call damning with faint praise).
Exactly. And yet so many seem to think it means 'do as you will' - completely forgetting the last few words which are 'an it harm none'.
Given that nearly every spiritual/religious sect I can think of has something akin to the Christian 'golden rule' it continues to bumfuzzle me that a basic truth so simply put is so difficult to keep in mind and practice.
I don't know, maybe that *is* just the way this place ultimately works, everything has it's time and passes on, making room for the next 'great experiment'. Maybe our time is nearing it's natural end..
Don't want to believe that, don't really believe that, but it sure seems we're h*llbent in that direction.
Thanks for filling in the blanks. I may be wrong, but as I understand, the extinction announcement is limited to the Western Black Rhino only. Other species of Black Rhino are endangered and nearing extinction.
Yes, this issue is complicated, and it's hard to condemn poachers for trying to feed their families. But those who profit immensely from their crimes are another matter altogether. I would heartily cheer their extinction.
Unextinct -- thanks for putting it so succinctly.
Seer
I sometimes try to educate my fundamentalist friends with retelling of biblical myths, but I invariably find they are so indoctrinated by the literalism that infests and infects their faith, they are nearly always unreceptive to larger truths.
Truth can be revealed in small words as well as tall tales. For example I sometimes cite the word "as" in the Lord's Prayer. "Forgive us our sins (debts or trespasses, if you prefer), "as" we forgive those who seen against us." Seen in that light, God will forgive us in accordance with how we forgive others.
That ought to be a chilling thought for all of us.
Shronk! Oh my, I can feel the cancer disappearing and it seems,
I am what... getting a boner?
Gawd, we as a species, as a whole, are just so fucking stupid.
Depressing ain't it Tom
You are the Crown of Creation
You are the Crown of Creation
And you've got no place to go.
Soon you'll attain the stability you strive for
In the only way that it's granted
In a place among the fossils of our time.
Jefferson Airplane
Your poem is prophetic. "While we have a discussion to determine your fate." As we blather, we're foolishly sealing our own fate.
male attitude that fucking successfully is the goal of life.
is that what the want the horn for? or is it for..healt? also
another american obsession.
great poem.. reminds me of "exodus":
Exodus 21, King James Version
כד: "עין תחת עין שן תחת שן יד תחת יד רגל תחת רגל"
24 "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot
Rhinos, like canaries, will one day only be pets in a cage
Abrawang and tr ig
Yes, apparently a rhino must be sacrificed so some pathetic old man can get it up -- at least that's the belief. I'm coming more and more to the conclusion that beliefs are not worth the having
but we ARE the crown of creation, at least all we
know of., and this brings
serious
responsibility.
like; no matricide no more.
Thanks, I can't say as I've heard the JA song. If we are the Crown of Creation, it is a Crown of Thorns.
James
I don't think there's anything new about copulation being deemed a be all and end all in the Orient. Concubines are all over the Bible. Genghis Khan has more wives than he could possibly keep satisfied -- and let's not even talk about eunuchs. In these latter days.Mao the Unbathed was reportedly obsessed with young chicks and sex.
And while Mao may have made up for his shortcomings -- so to speak -- with quantity, I doubt he was any more sexually-obsessed than Clinton, Kennedy, Edwards, Vitter, Cain, Newt, ad infinitum.
Indeed, the plethora of ED ads that pollute television in America strongly suggest that while Orientals may have cornered the market on rhino horn (while it lasts), they haven't cornered the market on potions to raise the failing phalluses and feed the insatiable egos of dirty old men.
Geez.......
:-( / R
The news stories: disturbing.
Yes,the Prophet has a dangerous job.It has always been this way.
Remain strong,Prophet!!!
-R-
rated
Is it all happening at the zoo?
Keep away from a runaround Sioux?
Would Einstein have split the atom?
I remember hearing Ginsburg had a fear of prescience
right before his transcendental OM phase.
Tom, I enjoy your poetry, and look forward to reading your book.
HART
Belief too often triumphs over logic – especially when it comes to horny dirty old men
Tr ig
Margaret is nothing if not deep, tho she attempts to disguise it with a great sense of humor. Yes, Asians are supposed to be smart, but see my comment to Toritto above
Rob
Sad, indeed, for the Western Black Rhino and for us. I suspect if we are ever to solve our biggest problems, it must begin with what we teach our children, and right now we’re doing a horrible job of that.
Matt
Are we a stupid species? That’s a rhetorical question right? See my comment to Rob above.
Interesting idea. Extinction does eventually become etched in stone with petrified remains.
Bellwether
We’re too busy concentrating on Herman Cain’s love life – or lack thereof – to be concerned about anything so trivial as extinction
Trudge
I’d say that UN prediction will not come to pass – Nature has its own way of dealing with overpopulation – and it ain’t pretty
BadScot
We inherited the Earth; and with what we’ve done to it, we shall inherit the wind.
Thanks
Heidi
Well, at least this prophet is not least honored in OS country
OES
Those two emotions usually accompany tragedy
Fay
Ahead of my time as a prophet? Perhaps, but I’m usually always late in real life
I’m sure someone, somewhere is considering cloning. But there are problems with that, just as there are problems with animals raised in zoos. Survival rates are usually very poor when such animals are released in the wild. One reason for that is environmental changes in the former habitat. See the movie Jurassic Park for other problems with cloning extinct species.
As for my book, drop me a PM, and I'll get you a signed copy of the book or any of my CD’s.
At least we can build an ark, of sorts. I'm guessing that some scientist has taken the precaution of saving some black rhino DNA, for that future when resurrection becomes possible (if it isn't already). Perhaps we can remedy some of the damage eventually.