Monday, June 09, 2008

Another one bites the dust

And another one down...
HONOLULU - Federal officials have confirmed what biologists have long thought: The Caribbean monk seal has gone the way of the dodo.

The last confirmed sighting of a Caribbean monk seal was in 1952 between Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service confirmed Friday that the species is extinct.

Kyle Baker, a biologist for NOAA's Fisheries Service southeast region, said the species is the only seal to become extinct from human causes.

Well... 1952. That's when we thought we'd have better living through chemistry and DDT and science was going to solve everything! Little did we know that continuously hunting seals would make them disappear. I mean... who could have anticipated...?

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