Africa’s Northern White Rhino has moved one step closer to extinction after one of its last two breeding males died at a nature conservancy in Kenya.  The animal was not poached, although damn near every single other Northern White Rhino was, and only four are left in the wild.

“Consequently the species now stands at the brink of complete extinction, a sorry testament to the greed of the human race,” read a statement from the Ol Pejeta Conservancy near Nairobi.  “We will continue to do what we can to work with the remaining three animals on Ol Pejeta in the hope that our efforts will one day result in the successful birth of a northern white rhino calf.”

It might have been natural causes that brought down Suni, a 34-year old animal and the first Northern White Rhino to have been born in captivity at the Dvur Kralove Zoo in the former Czechoslovakia in 1980 – the place where Northern Whites bred in captivity.  Suni was moved to his ancestors’ native land in 2009 with four others as part of in hopes it would offer a more favorable chance for breeding (Graphic Rhinos-doing-it video.. at least Suni enjoyed himself). 

Northern White Rhinos numbered about 2,000 in 1960, and were down to 15 in 1984.  They’re poached for their horns, which are trafficked to Asia for nonsense, superstitious, and ineffective “traditional medicine”.  Last year, illegal traders were asking US $65,000 for one kilogram of Rhino horn.

While the Northern White Rhino is almost gone, the Southern White Rhino is doing much better, with 20,000 remaining in the wild.