ED: Will this be a headline in South African News one of these days???

HANOI, Vietnam, October 27, 2011 (ENS) - The Javan rhinocerus has been officially declared extinct in Vietnam by conservation organizations and by Vietnamese officials at a press briefing Tuesday.

The World Wildlife Fund and the International Rhino Foundation are among organizations that funded a field survey in Vietnam and genetic analysis by Queens University, Canada, which confirmed the extinction of the Javan rhino in Vietnam.

Since the discovery of the Javan rhinoceros, Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus, in Vietnam in 1988, their range steadily declined due to infrastructure and agricultural development, disturbance and an expanding human population.

Just two Javan rhinos were clinging to life in Vietnam until approximately 2006; since then only one rhino survived poaching and habitat loss. That one animal was found dead in April 2010, killed by poachers for its horn.

Read the full story here.