14 DAY TRIAL // This coming March 31-April 4, Singapore is to host an emergency summit organized by conservationists who are eager to save the world's remaining Sumatran rhinos from becoming extinct.
Reports issued by green-oriented organizations maintain that, according to their investigations, roughly 200 such animals are now left to inhabit the wild.
This means that the species is critically endangered and that, unless something is soon done, Sumatran rhinos will not delay in falling off the biodiversity map.
Said emergency summit intends to end in the rolling out of a plan that will make it possible for environmentalists to keep this from happening. Mongabay says that, to begin with, conservationists will have to figure out what funds they have at their disposal and how to best use this money in order to safeguard the species.
The same source informs us that, despite efforts to save them, Sumatran rhinos are still facing great threats as a result of their losing their natural habitats in favor of humans and because of poachers who do not shy away from hunting them for their horns.
Furthermore, it appears that previous plans of breeding such animals in captivity have thus far yielded very little benefits in terms of ensuring the species' survival on the longer run.
Therefore, it is mandatory that conservationists come up with a plan that will translate into the animals' being able to make a comeback in terms of their overall headcount while some of them are still left to inhabit the wild.
“Both governments and tourists need to take more responsibility. People should absolutely not buy souvenirs from endangered species or carved ivory souvenirs while on holiday,” the Secretary General of WWF Sweden, Hakan Wirtén, argued at one point.
The emergency summit set to take place in Singapore has been convened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission.
Some of the organizations expected to take part in it are the Wildlife Conservation Society, the World Wildlife Fund and SOS Rhino US.