According to the World Wildlife Fund’s latest report, 60 percent of all wild animals with a backbone that existed between 1970 to 2014 are now extinct. Buzz60
They’ve been on our planet for millions of years, but 2018 was the year several species officially vanished forever.
Three bird species went completely extinct this year, scientists say, two of which are songbirds from northeastern Brazil: The Cryptic Treehunter (Cichlocolaptes mazarbarnetti) and Alagoas Foliage-gleaner (Philydor novaesi), according to a recent report from the conservation group BirdLife International.
According to BirdLife, the other extinct bird is Hawaii’s Poo-uli (Melamprosops phaeosoma), which has not been seen in the wild since 2004 (the same year the last captive bird died).
A disturbing trend is that mainland species are starting to go…
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Exposing the Big Game 
While reading about the appalling Florida rhino exhibit where a 2 year old child was allowed to fall into it, I found this little gem too:
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=6449110&page=1
With poaching rampant in the wild, to know that elephants live longer in the wild than in zoos really is not a good recommendation for zoos.
The white rhino exhibit! Kept in an enclosure with spaces you could sail a yacht through, for children 3 and up (much too young), and allowing ‘hands on’ touching and petting of a large and dangerous animal. Not to mention to valuable an animal because they are nearly extinct in the wild to be shot a la Harumbe when a negligent parent loses track of their kid! Apparently no lessons were learned from the Harumbe tragedy.
Thankfully, the exhibit has been closed while its safety features are being ‘evaluated’. 😦
No lessons were learned either it appears about the exhibit in France where poachers broke in and killed a southern white rhino for its horn! This exhibit is a little too lackadaisical, and there ought to be armed guards present IMO. But that’s just me.