Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Yesterday, Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy announced they had euthanised the last male northern white rhino, Sudan, on Monday, after consulting with wildlife officials. Sudan was 45-years-old, and now only two northern white rhinos, both female and descendants of Sudan, remain.

“Sudan was being treated for age-related complications that led to degenerative changes in muscles and bones combined with extensive skin wounds”, the conservancy said. “His condition worsened significantly in the last 24 hours; he was unable to stand up and was suffering a great deal”, they added.

Sudan, who was born in the early 1970s, suffered a wound in his right hind leg in late February. He was born in South Sudan, and at that time around 700 northern white rhinos were alive.

Sudan was in captivity for the last 38 years. Earlier, he was kept at the Dv?r Králové Zoo in Czech Republic before he was moved to Kenya. He stayed in a 90 thousand acre (about 140 square mile, 364 square kilometre) reserve with the only two remaining female northern white rhinos, 27-year-old Najin and seventeen-year-old Fatu. Najin and Fatu are Sudan’s daughter and granddaughter, respectively.

Ol Pejeta said they collected Sudan’s genetic material on Monday. The conservancy said, “The only hope for the preservation of the subspecies now lies in developing in-vitro fertilisation techniques using eggs from the two remaining females, stored northern white rhino semen from males and surrogate southern white rhino females.”

Last year, an account was opened on dating platform Tinder on Sudan’s behalf, to raise money for a fertility treatment after attempts at natural mating proved futile. Suni, second to last male of the subspecies, died four years ago, in October 2014 in San Diego Zoo, US. He was 42.

Ol Pejeta’s CEO, Richard Vigne, said Sudan “was a great ambassador for his species and will be remembered for the work he did to raise awareness globally on the plight facing not only rhinos, but also the many thousands of other species facing extinction as a result of unstable human activity”.

In 2008, the World Wildlife Foundation declared northern white rhinos extinct in the wild.

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

On Monday night, U.S. retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn resigned from his position as National Security Advisor at the request of President Donald Trump in response to a Justice Department report indicating the Russian government could blackmail Flynn over untrue statements he’d made to Vice President Pence.

Specifically, Flynn told Pence he had not discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. Pence later went on television and relayed this to the public. However, U.S. intelligence officials had recorded Pence and Kislyak’s conversations. According to one such official, Flynn insinuated to Kislyak then-President-elect Trump would be pleased if Russia did not retaliate for the Obama administration’s December 29 order sanctioning Russian spy agencies and expelling 35 suspected Russian spies from U.S. territory. In his resignation letter, Flynn referred to his statements as “incomplete information” and said he’d apologized to Pence.

Under the 1799 Logan Act, individual U.S. citizens are not allowed to negotiate with foreign governments without permission, and Flynn may have violated it, but University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck said the real issue is whether Flynn lied to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In remarks to NBC News a senior intelligence official said Flynn had not been shown to have done anything illegal. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the resignation was due to a “trust issue” rather than any legal concern.

According to White House spokespeople, President Trump was informed Flynn had misled Pence last month by then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates, while Vice President Pence did not learn of this until news reports surfaced earlier this week. Democratic Representative Adam Schiff claimed Trump asked Flynn to resign because of the media response and not because of the conversation with Pence itself. There is significant opposition in the U.S. Congress to lifting sanctions against Russia. Several Democrats and some Republicans have called for investigation of the Trump administration’s ties with the country.

Retired general Keith Kellogg, who served as an advisor to Trump during his presidential campaign, was selected as Flynn’s acting replacement.