ninamarie@writeme.com www.ninamariephotography.com
2,500–5,000 snow leopards remain on the planet. Over 1,000 pelts were exported out of Asia and Russia each year around the 1920’s. Today one full snow leopard skeleton can be sold for US $10,000.
10,000 red pandas exist in the wild today, declining at a rate greater than 10% over the next 3 generations. The decline is largely due to poaching for their furs.
1,000,000 baby seals have been hacked to death in the past three years for their fur. The Canadian government allows for the slaughter of about 300,000 harp seals, most of which are pups less than a few months old.
24,000 rhinos live in the wild today. Without drastic action, the rhino might go extinct within 3-10 years. The Western Black Rhino officially became extinct as of 2006. Illegal rhino horn is used in Chinese Folk Medicine and reported to be worth $82,000 a kilo on the black market, twice the price of gold.
9,000–20,000 bears are estimated to be bred and kept in cages in China for their bile and paws. Raw bile can sell for as much as u.s. $24,000 a kilogram, approximately half the price of gold.
5,000 takin are estimated to exist in the wild. The Takin population is estimated to decline 30% in the next 3 generations due sport hunting and habitat loss.
ninamarie@writeme.com www.ninamariephotography.com