we hardly knew yee monk

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Caribbean monk seal is extinct

 

Caribbean monk seals have gone extinct, U.S. officials declared Friday. The

seals, also called West Indian seals, have been on the endangered-species list

since 1967; the last confirmed sighting of one was in 1952. The Caribbean monk,

native to the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, is the only seal that has gone

extinct directly because of human causes. " Following European colonization from

the 1700s to 1900s, the seals were exploited intensively for their blubber, and

to a lesser extent for food, scientific study, and zoological collection, " the

U.S. Marine Fisheries Service explained in a statement. Other species of monk

seals are also barely hanging on: only 1,200 Hawaiian monk seals and 500

Mediterranean monk seals remain in the wild, and the Hawaiian population is

declining at a rate of 4 percent per year.

 

 

“We now know that a neo-conservative is an arsonist who sets the house on fire

and six years later boasts that no one can put it out.†- Bill Moyers