# Good news, everybody! The Western Black Rhino will no longer be hunted! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 14, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-everybody-the-western-black-rhino-will-no-longer-be-hunted/717684 "2015-04-14T21:17:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-everybody-the-western-black-rhino-will-no-longer-be-hunted/717684/1 "2015-04-14T21:17:50Z")
[The Western Black Rhino has been officially declared extinct](http://www.11alive.com/news/article/312002/40/Western-black-rhino-officially-declared-extinct). You see? Poaching is a self-resolving problem! Once all of a species are dead, the poachers no longer poach them! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-everybody-the-western-black-rhino-will-no-longer-be-hunted/717684/2 "2015-04-14T21:20:49Z")
Well, that was a major boner on the part of the poachers. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-everybody-the-western-black-rhino-will-no-longer-be-hunted/717684/3 "2015-04-14T21:23:13Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Well, that was a major boner … Oh, I forgot about the poor Chinese! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-everybody-the-western-black-rhino-will-no-longer-be-hunted/717684/4 "2015-04-14T21:42:57Z")
Looks like that article is two years old; just FYI. We were fortunate to see a black rhino in the [Ngorongoro Crater](http://daahsafaris.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/7027812651_0342cb6c97_z.jpg) in Tanzania back in about 1997. I doubt that it was a western black rhino, however, as they were pretty scarce even then. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-everybody-the-western-black-rhino-will-no-longer-be-hunted/717684/5 "2015-04-14T21:44:57Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Looks like that article is two years old; just FYI. I did not notice that. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-everybody-the-western-black-rhino-will-no-longer-be-hunted/717684/6 "2015-04-15T13:29:46Z")
Actually, this dates back to about 2006. Snopes just posted on it. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-everybody-the-western-black-rhino-will-no-longer-be-hunted/717684/7 "2015-04-15T22:01:18Z")
Sometimes I despair for humanity. I really thought the ready availability of boner pills that actually, you know, work, would inhibit the sale of illegal and useless nostrums and end rhino poaching. I can’t believe that at my age I’m not cynical enough. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-everybody-the-western-black-rhino-will-no-longer-be-hunted/717684/8 "2015-04-15T22:33:35Z")
I’m trying to spread a belief that the kidneys of Chinese Apothecaries are an aphrodisiac. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-everybody-the-western-black-rhino-will-no-longer-be-hunted/717684/9 "2015-04-15T23:53:07Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > I’m trying to spread a belief that the kidneys of Chinese Apothecaries are an aphrodisiac. To paraphrase Hedley Lamarr, “Kinky, I like it.” Bushmeat, traditional medicine trade, constant encroachment on habitat, so many species in Africa; and Asia for that matter are in heavy threat. Then on top of all that, we have Global Climate Change and good old pollution to threaten even more wildlife. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-everybody-the-western-black-rhino-will-no-longer-be-hunted/717684/10 "2015-04-16T02:33:45Z")
You know, I was all set to get upset about the extinction of the animal, and then I found out it was just a subspecies. I can’t get worked up about a subspecies. Maybe if they didn’t want to go extinct, they shouldn’t have had a body part that people thought was an aphrodisiac. ---
**Author:** ![StrangerThanFiction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f05b48/32.png) [@StrangerThanFiction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrangerThanFiction)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-everybody-the-western-black-rhino-will-no-longer-be-hunted/717684/11 "2015-04-16T02:43:01Z")
I’m pretty sure the black rhino as a species is beyond any realistic hope. It’ll be extinct within a few decades unless half of Africa suddenly finds itself thrust into the first world. I’m not holding my breath. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-everybody-the-western-black-rhino-will-no-longer-be-hunted/717684/12 "2015-04-16T13:45:18Z")
> [@StrangerThanFiction](#): > > I’m pretty sure the black rhino as a species is beyond any realistic hope. It’ll be extinct within a few decades unless half of Africa suddenly finds itself thrust into the first world. I’m not holding my breath. It’s always precarious there. During the strife in Uganda years ago, soldiers would shoot wild animals either for meat or just because they were assholes. A couple of the parks had rebounded when we were there in the 90s, but every time another conflict breaks out, it’s not just the people who are eliminated.