Rhino subspecies vanishing from the wild

GENEVA—A leading conservation group has declared the Western Black Rhino of Africa officially extinct and says two other subspecies of rhinoceros are close to meeting the same fate.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature says the Northern White Rhino of central Africa is now “possibly extinct” in the wild and the Javan Rhino “probably extinct” in Vietnam, after poachers killed the last animal there in 2010. A small but declining population survives on the Indonesian island of Java.

IUCN said Thursday that a quarter of all mammals are at risk of extinction, according to its updated Red List of endangered species.

But the group says species such as the Southern White Rhino and the Przewalski’s Horse have been brought back from the brink with successful conservation programs.