Indian Rhino population in Nepal given helping hand by Extinction Sucks

WWF 8 May 09;

The Indian Rhino, also known as the Greater One-horned Rhino, is slowly recovering from near demise in the 1970’s, when only 600 of the creatures remained. And while figures of 2,400 living in the wild still leaves them as vulnerable, the tremendous work by conservationists and anti-poaching teams has helped to give the rhino’s a fighting chance.

These Rhino’s are killed for their horns, which are believed to work as anti-inflammatory’s – although no scientific evidence exists to support this.

And while the value of these horns is only quite modest by Western standards, the sale of a single horn can account for a months salary in somewhere like Nepal.

And it is here that they are most threatened, and where Extinction Sucks conservationists Ashleigh Young and Aleisha Caruso, look to help by raising funds for the anti-poaching teams.

The girls throw a “Missing Horn” funk night in their local pub in order to raise vital funds for the anti-poaching teams, and then travel to Nepal to see some of the country’s remaining 408 rhinos in the shadows of the Himalayas.

Extinction Sucks is a unique co-production between WWF and Babelgum to bring high-quality conservation programming to web audiences. It's thought to be the first time that an online video channel has commissioned original, full-length wildlife shows specifically for the internet. The series is being broadcast over a six week run on www.panda.org and www.babelgum.com. Other programmes see Ash and Aleisha raise funds for WWF programmes protecting elephants in India and sea turtles in Australia, and Asiatic black bears in Vietnam.