It’s official: Caribbean monk seal is now extinct
Only seal species to vanish due to human impacts; two other species at risk.
In Finland, the Saimaa ringed seal (Pusa hispida saimensis), one of the world’s few freshwater seals, is likely to become extinct in a few years, according to the Finnish natural resources agency, Metsähallitus. Its population has dropped to just 260 due to “warmer winters, drowning of seals caught in fishnets and traps, and the dispersed nature of the seals themselves,” The Helsingin Sanomat newspaper reports.
Another freshwater seal, Canada’s Lac des loups marins harbour seals (Phoca vitulina mellonae), could soon become listed as an endangered species in Canada, according to a report in The Nunatsiaq News. There are just 100 to 600 of these rare seals left (although most scientists believe the number is closer to the lower end of that range), and according to documents at the government’s “Species At Risk Public Registry” website.
One seal species that doesn’t rely upon ice is the Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi). But that doesn’t mean it is less endangered. Research by Jennifer Schultz, a doctoral candidate at the Department of Zoology and Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology at University of Hawaii, Kaneohe, shows that Hawaiian monk seals face a genetic bottleneck, with the lowest genetic diversity of any mammal species ever studied. It’s expected to be extinct in the next few years.
North American Porpoise on Brink of Extinction
Scientists have raised the alarm that less than two years remain before it’s too late for saving a rare North American porpoise from going extinct. As of 2007, they estimate only 150 of the extremely endangered vaquita (Phocoena sinus) remain in the world.
I have a few questions to the Animal Rights people-
With so many marine mammals on the brink of extinction in the world but especially the United States, why is it I never heard a word about any of this from the Animal Rights movement. They protest that fact that I eat chicken, put honey in my tea, wear wool socks and keep a pet goldfish, but nothing on wildlife species going extinct!! Why are animal species at risk of so little importance to Animal Rights?? With the vast resources of manpower and money that animal rights have at their disposal, should they not, more then anyone else, raise the alarm? Is there some reason that all of us are expected to keep this quiet??
What is Animal Rights getting in return for keeping silent??
Why are Animal Rights so afraid of the Americans??