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15 January 21
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Michael Moore | Know This: Fascism Loses. Racism Loses. Right-Wing Crazy Loses.
Michael Moore, Michael Moore's Facebook Page
Moore writes: "C'mon, MAGA Nation! Losing sucks. Give up!"
Just meet us half-way! The reason our side ultimately wins is because we’re on the side of love, peace, science, hip-hop, healthy food, libraries, quilts, gardens, every kid gets a trophy — and we’re the ones working to see that you’ll never pay a doctor bill again, and we’re gonna instantly see that your wage gets DOUBLED at your crappy minimum wage job, and we’re gonna get you that vaccine NOW and fucking kick Covid’s ass for you. You’re gonna get to keep your licensed hunting guns, no one will force you to have an abortion or get gay-married, and we will defend your rights no matter how much we disagree on things. But know this: Fascism loses. Racism loses. Right-wing crazy loses. Sadly, none of these sicknesses lose before they do an immense amount of damage. We’re a forgiving lot - maybe too forgiving - because the liberal mind believes the way forward is paved best with redemption and tolerance and one for all and all for one. So stop with all the losing! Otherwise, you give us no other choice. If you continue with your violence and hate and your knee on the neck of an unarmed black man for 8 minutes and 46 seconds or you brutally crush the head of a Capitol Police officer with a fire extinguisher, we will stop you and stop you for good. Ask Robert E. Lee. Ask Adolph or Benito. Ask George Wallace or Bull Connor or Donald Trump himself. We crush all haters and killers because we love the people you’re trying to hurt. And love, yes, conquers hate. You’re now going to see how that works.
Supporters of U.S. president Donald Trump battle with police at the west entrance of the Capitol during a 'Stop the Steal' protest. (photo: Stephanie Keith/Reuters)
ALSO SEE: Lawmakers Who Conspired With Capitol Attackers in Legal Peril
Federal Prosecutors: Capitol Rioters Meant to 'Capture and Assassinate' Elected Officials
Brad Heath and Sarah N. Lynch, Reuters
Excerpt: "Federal prosecutors offered an ominous new assessment of last week's siege of the U.S. Capitol by President Donald Trump's supporters on Thursday, saying in a court filing that rioters intended 'to capture and assassinate elected officials.'"
Prosecutors offered that view in a filing asking a judge to detain Jacob Chansley, the Arizona man and QAnon conspiracy theorist who was famously photographed wearing horns as he stood at the desk of Vice President Mike Pence in the chamber of the U.S. Senate.
The detention memo, written by Justice Department lawyers in Arizona, goes into greater detail about the FBI’s investigation into Chansley, revealing that he left a note for Pence warning that “it’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.”
“Strong evidence, including Chansley’s own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States government,” prosecutors wrote.
A public defender representing Chansley could not be immediately reached for comment. Chansley is due to appear in federal court on Friday.
The prosecutors’ assessment comes as prosecutors and federal agents have begun bringing more serious charges tied to violence at the Capitol, including revealing cases Thursday against one man, retired firefighter Robert Sanford, on charges that he hurled a fire extinguisher at the head of one police officer and another, Peter Stager, of beating a different officer with a pole bearing an American flag.
In Chansley’s case, prosecutors said the charges “involve active participation in an insurrection attempting to violently overthrow the United States government,” and warned that “the insurrection is still in progress” as law enforcement prepares for more demonstrations in Washington and state capitals.
They also suggested he suffers from drug abuse and mental illness, and told the judge he poses a serious flight risk.
“Chansley has spoken openly about his belief that he is an alien, a higher being, and he is here on Earth to ascend to another reality,” they wrote.
The Justice Department has brought more than 80 criminal cases in connection with the violent riots at the U.S. Capitol last week, in which Trump’s supporters stormed the building, ransacked offices and in some cases, attacked police.
Many of the people charged so far were easily tracked down by the FBI, which has more than 200 suspects, thanks in large part to videos and photos posted on social media.
Michael Sherwin, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, has said that while many of the initial charges may seem minor, he expects much more serious charges to be filed as the Justice Department continues its investigation.
Shouting protesters face NYPD officers during a Black Lives Matter demonstration last summer in New York City, in outrage over the death of a Black man in Minnesota who died after a white policeman knelt on his neck for several minutes. (photo: Johannes Eisele/Getty)
New York State Sues NYPD Over Its Handling of 2020 Racial Justice Protests
Bill Chappell, NPR
Chappell writes: "New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against the New York City Police Department, citing 'a pattern of using excessive force and making false arrests against New Yorkers during peaceful protests' that sought racial justice and other changes."
The Black Lives Matter movement and other activists organized large protests across the country last year, after the Memorial Day death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis. Demonstrations grew over similar incidents, including the killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky.
James' office says it has received "more than 1,300 complaints and pieces of evidence" about the police response to the protests in New York City. It's now seeking a court order "declaring that the policies and practices that the NYPD used during these protests were unlawful."
Along with the court order, the attorney general is asking for policy reforms and a monitor to oversee the NYPD's tactics and handling of future protests.
The NYPD has been sharply criticized over a number of its officers' actions in the past year. A video last May apparently showed police SUVs surging into a crowd that had surrounded them during a protest in Brooklyn. In another incident, an officer drew his gun and pointed it at a crowd of people.
And in July, plainclothes officers were seen on video as they "aggressively detained a woman at a protest and hauled her away in an unmarked vehicle," as NPR reported.
"There is no question that the NYPD engaged in a pattern of excessive, brutal, and unlawful force against peaceful protesters," James said. "Over the past few months, the NYPD has repeatedly and blatantly violated the rights of New Yorkers, inflicting significant physical and psychological harm and leading to great distrust in law enforcement."
"With today's lawsuit," James said, "this longstanding pattern of brutal and illegal force ends. No one is above the law — not even the individuals charged with enforcing it."
The police actions broke state and federal law, James says. The lawsuit alleges that New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea and NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan "failed to prevent and address the pattern or practice of excessive force and false arrests by officers against peaceful protesters in violation of the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution" as well as state laws.
After the lawsuit was filed, NYPD and de Blasio made similar statements, saying plans to reform the police department are already under way.
"The New York City Police Department welcomes reform and has embraced the recent suggestions by both the city's Department of Investigation and the city's Law Department," a department spokesperson said via email. "As the Mayor has said, adding another layer does not speed up the process of continued reform, which we have embraced and led the way on."
The Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York also issued a statement, blaming the city's leadership for problems at the protests.
"They sent cops out to police unprecedented protests and violent riots with no plan, no strategy and no support," PBA President Patrick J. Lynch said.
New York's attorney general announced the lawsuit against the NYPD Thursday morning in a virtual news conference that began shortly before New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivered his annual State of the State address. Cuomo called on James — who is elected, not appointed – to investigate NYPD's response to the protests last May.
"Last night, we saw disturbing violent clashes amid protests in Brooklyn," Cuomo said when he announced his request for an inquiry. He added, "The public deserves answers and accountability."
Last June, the NYPD suspended at least two officers for their behavior during protests, including an officer who was captured on video pushing a woman to the ground in Brooklyn. Another officer was punished for "pulling down an individual's face mask in Brooklyn and spraying pepper spray at him," as ABC7 New York reported.
Human Rights Watch, an independent watchdog group, issued a report last year on the police misconduct in Brooklyn. According to the report, clearly identified medics and legal observers were among those zip-tied and beaten by police in a response that was "intentional, planned, and unjustified."
The lawsuit says the police department sent thousands of poorly trained officers to cope with large-scale protests, resulting in mass arrests and attempts to suppress demonstrations. It also says the NYPD made a practice out of "kettling" — corralling people by using physical force and obstructions — to arrest protesters rather than allowing crowds to disperse.
As the Gothamist website reports:
"The NYPD has already been under the oversight of a federal monitor for more than six years. The federal monitor, Peter Zimroth, was ordered by the court to oversee sweeping stop-and-frisk reforms. The department's work to reform stop-and-frisk practices, and address racial biases in policing, is ongoing. The monitor has not yet deemed the NYPD to be fully in compliance with reforms."
A Minnesota judge ruled this week that Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who kept his knee on Floyd's neck for several minutes, will stand trial alone when proceedings begin in March. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter.
Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they try to storm the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021. (photo: Joseph Prezioso/Getty)
ALSO SEE: Feds Warn That Racist Extremists, Anti-Government Militias
Were Emboldened by Capitol Breach
Dozens on FBI Terrorist Watch List - Mostly Suspected White Supremacists - Came to DC on Riot Day
Devlin Barrett, Spencer S. Hsu and Marissa J. Lang, The Seattle Times
Excerpt: "Dozens of people on a terrorist watch list were in Washington for pro-Trump events Jan. 6, a day that ended in a chaotic crime rampage when a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, according to people familiar with evidence gathered in the FBI's investigation."
The majority of the watchlisted individuals in Washington that day are suspected white supremacists whose past conduct so alarmed investigators that their names had been previously entered into the national Terrorist Screening Database, or TSDB, a massive set of names flagged as potential security risks, these people said. The watch list is larger and separate from the “no-fly” list the government maintains to prevent terrorism suspects from boarding airplanes, and those listed are not automatically barred from any public or commercial spaces, current and former officials said.
The presence of so many watch-listed individuals in one place — without more robust security measures to protect the public — is another example of the intelligence failures preceding last week’s assault that sent lawmakers running for their lives and left five others dead, some current and former law enforcement officials argued. The revelation follows a Washington Post report earlier this week detailing the FBI’s failure to act aggressively on an internal intelligence report of internet discussions about plans to attack Congress, smash windows, break down doors and “get violent … go there ready for war.”
Other current and former officials said the presence of those individuals is an unsurprising consequence of having thousands of fervent Trump supporters gathered for what was billed as a final chance to voice opposition to Joe Biden’s certification as the next president. Still, the revelation underscores the limitations of such watch lists. Although they are meant to improve information gathering and sharing among investigative agencies, they are far from a foolproof means of detecting threats ahead of time.
Since its creation, the terrorist watch list, which is maintained by the FBI, has grown to include hundreds of thousands of names. Placing someone’s name on the watch list does not mean they will be watched all of the time, or even much of the time, for reasons of both practicality and fairness. But it can alert different parts of the government, like border agents or state police, to look more closely at certain people they encounter.
It’s unclear whether any of the dozens of people already arrested for alleged crimes at the Capitol are on the terrorist watch list.
“The U.S. Government is committed to protecting the United States from terrorist threats and attacks and seeks to do this in a manner that protects the freedoms, privacy and civil rights and liberties of U.S. persons and other individuals with rights under U.S. law,” a U.S. official said, adding that because of security concerns, the government has a policy of neither confirming nor denying a person’s watch list status.
The FBI declined to comment.
The riot’s political aftershocks led the House of Representatives on Wednesday to impeach President Donald Trump for allegedly inciting the violence — his second impeachment in a single four-year term — and may have significant consequences within law enforcement and national security agencies.
Inside the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, officials are grappling with thorny questions about race, terrorism and free-speech rights as some investigators question whether more could have been done to prevent last week’s violence.
While some federal officials think the government should more aggressively investigate domestic terrorism and extremists, others are concerned the FBI, DHS and other agencies may overreact to the recent violence by going too far in surveilling First Amendment activity like online discussions.
Several law enforcement officials said they are shocked by the backgrounds of some individuals under investigation in connection with the Capitol riot, a pool of suspects that includes current and former law enforcement and military personnel, senior business executives and middle-aged business owners.
“I can’t believe some of the people I’m seeing,” one official said.
The TSDB, often referred to within government as simply “the watch list,” is overseen by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, which was created in the wake of the 9/11 attacks carried out by al-Qaida. The watch list can be used as both an investigative and early warning tool, but its primary purpose is to help various government agencies keep abreast of what individuals seen as potential risks are doing and where they travel, according to people familiar with the work who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because the work is sensitive.
Often that can be done as a “silent hit,” meaning if someone on the watch list is stopped for speeding, that information is typically entered into the database without the individual or even the officer who wrote the ticket ever knowing, one person said.
After the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, for instance, the FBI quickly searched a similar database to see which people on it had recently traveled to that city or raised other suspicions about possible involvement.
Before the Jan. 6 gathering of pro-Trump protesters, FBI agents visited a number of suspected extremists and advised them against traveling to the nation’s capital. Many complied, but according to people familiar with the sprawling investigation, dozens of others whose names appear in the terrorist watch list apparently attended, based on information reviewed by the FBI.
Separately, while the FBI is hunting hundreds of rioting suspects who have dispersed back to their hometowns, federal agents are increasingly focused on alleged leaders, members, and supporters of the Proud Boys, a male-chauvinist group with ties to white nationalism, these people said.
The Proud Boys participated in last week’s protests, and FBI agents are taking a close look at what roles, if any, their adherents may have had in organizing, directing or carrying out violence, according to people familiar with the matter.
The group’s chairman, Enrique Tarrio, had planned to attend Trump’s Jan. 6 rally but was arrested when he arrived in D.C. and charged with misdemeanor destruction of property in connection with the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner taken from a Black church during an earlier protest in Washington. He is also accused of felony possession of two extended gun magazines.
Tarrio told The Post on Wednesday that his group did not organize the Capitol siege.
“If they think we were organizing going into the Capitol, they’re going to be sadly mistaken,” he said. “Our plan was to stay together as a group and just enjoy the day. We weren’t going to do a night march, anything like that. That’s it as far as our day.”
Tarrio said he’s actively discouraging members from attending planned armed marches scheduled Sunday, and the Million Militia March next week when Biden is inaugurated. Proud Boys, he said, are on a “rally freeze and will not be organizing any events for the next month or so.”
It is unclear how many Proud Boys devotees will abide by the freeze, or if such a shutdown might lessen the FBI’s interest in the group. Even before the Jan. 6 riot, federal and local investigators were working to understand the group’s plans, goals and activities. Privately, some federal law enforcement officials have described the group as roughly equivalent to a nascent street gang that has garnered an unusual degree of national attention, in part because Trump mentioned them specifically during one his televised debates with Biden during the campaign. Other officials have expressed concern that the group may be growing rapidly into something more dangerous and directed.
The FBI already has arrested dozens of accused rioters, and officials have pledged that in cases of the most egregious conduct, they will seek to file tough, rarely used charges like seditious conspiracy, which carries a potential 20-year prison sentence.
The bureau continues to face criticism over its handling of a Jan. 5 internal report warning of discussions of violence at Congress the next day. Steven D’Antuono, the head of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, claimed in the days after the riot that the bureau did not have intelligence ahead of time indicating the rally would be anything other than a peaceful demonstration.
The Jan. 5 FBI report, written by the bureau’s office in Norfolk, Va., and reviewed by The Post, shows that was not the case, and the Justice Department took other steps indicating officials were at least somewhat concerned about possible violence the next day. The Bureau of Prisons sent 100 officers to D.C. to supplement security at the Justice Department building, an unusual move similar to what the department did in June to respond to civil unrest stemming from racial justice protests.
Mindful of the criticism that law enforcement took a heavy-handed, all-hands-on-deck approach to Black Lives Matters protests in D.C. in the spring and summer, Justice Department officials deferred to the Capitol Police to defend their building and lawmakers there. Some former officials have questioned whether the FBI and Justice Department should have done more.
“It would not have been enough for the bureau simply to share information, if it did so, with state and local law enforcement or federal partner agencies,” said David Laufman, a former Justice Department national security official. “It was the bureau’s responsibility to quarterback a coordinated federal response as the crisis was unfolding and in the days thereafter. And it’s presently not clear to what extent the FBI asserted itself in that fashion during the exigencies of January 6 and in the immediate aftermath.”
Eddie Lee Howard, 67, released from jail after 26 years. (photo: Mississippi Innocence Project)
Black Man Who Spent 26 Years on Death Row Declared Innocent of Killing White Woman
Stuti Mishra, The Independent
Mishra writes: "A Black man who spent 26 years in prison on charges of raping and killing an 84-year-old white woman from Mississippi, was exonerated on Monday after new evidence ruled out his involvement in the crimes."
Howard was first convicted in 1994 based on an outdated method of bite mark comparison
Eddie Lee Howard, 67, was wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of Georgia Kemp several times, and was first sentenced to death in 1994, according to the Innocence Project, which represented him.
The conviction of Mr Howard was based on the now discredited technique of bite mark comparison through which a doctor certified that the mark on Ms Kemp’s body matched Mr Howard’s teeth.
However, new forensic evidence, including the DNA testing of the crime scene and alibi witnesses excluded Mr Howard. The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled on 27 August, 2020, that an “individual perpetrator cannot be reliably identified through bite mark comparison” and ordered a new trial.
Mr Howard was removed from the death row in December and released on Monday after prosecutors dropped the murder charge against him.
Confirming his release, District Attorney Scott Colom told The Associated Press that there was not enough evidence to convict Howard "beyond a reasonable doubt."
"My ethical and legal responsibility requires that I dismiss the case," he said.
Vanessa Potkin, one of Mr Howard’s Innocence Project attorneys, said: “Mr. Howard was sentenced to death based on unfounded forensics with no physical evidence or witnesses to the crime.”
"I want to say many thanks to the many people who are responsible for helping to make my dream of freedom a reality," Mr Howard said in a statement quoted by the Innocence Project.
"I thank you with all my heart, because without your hard work on my behalf, I would still be confined in that terrible place called the Mississippi Department of Corrections, on death row, waiting to be executed," he said.
According to the organisation, Mr Howard’s case is by no means isolated and it marks the 28th exoneration in the United States based on bite mark comparison.
A Palestinian man confronts an Israeli forces after they intervened in scuffles between Jewish settlers and Palestinian farmers trying to access their lands to harvest olives, in the West Bank village of Burqah, on October 16, 2020. (photo: AFP)
Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem Labels Israel an 'Apartheid Regime' for First Time
Saphora Smith, NBC News
Smith writes: "A leading Israeli human rights group has for the first time labelled Israel an 'apartheid regime,' sparking a fierce controversy by using a term that Israeli leaders have vehemently rejected."
READ MORE
Fatu (left) and Najin (right) are the last two northern white rhinos left on the planet. They are both female and are a mother-daughter duo. The fate of the species now rest on assisted methods of reproduction. (photo: Gurcharan Roopra)
And Then There Were Two: Can Northern White Rhinos Be Saved From Extinction?
Megan Mayhew Bergman, Guardian UK
Excerpt: "There are only two remaining rhinos of this species, a mother and daughter, but scientists see new hope in stem cell breakthroughs."
watch these beautiful animals walk the path toward extinction every day,” keeper James Mwenda tells me. He’s out in the Kenyan bush, swatting flies. The anti-poaching K-9 dogs bark in the background. “I’ve watched their numbers fall from seven to two ... Working with them and watching what’s happening – it’s an emotional freefall.” He smiles, clearly resigned to the pain of bearing witness. “But I’ve dedicated my life to it.”
The window to keep the northern white rhino from going functionally extinct to fully extinct is closing fast. Were things left only to nature, the two remaining rhinos – elderly, calm Najin and her feisty 20-year-old daughter Fatu – would be the last of their kind to graze the African grasslands. After civil war, habitat loss, and aggressive poaching, scientists declared the species extinct in the wild in 2008.
Scientists now have a last-minute chance to bring the northern white rhinos back from the void, thanks to stem cell breakthroughs – but only if they can manage to work through the constraints of the pandemic.
“In 2012, there was no hope for the northern white rhino,” Dr Thomas Hildebrandt, a Berlin-based expert in wildlife reproduction, tells me. But, inspired by an interdisciplinary conference on interstellar life, Hildebrandt used grant money to forge an international consortium dedicated to saving the species. “We realized we were not yet at the end. There was, suddenly, a new horizon.”
He spearheaded “BioRescue” – a collaboration between the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, the Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic, Italian laboratory Avantea, and Kenya’s Ol Pejeta and Kenya Wildlife Service. Hildebrandt believes increased international cooperation is the future of conservation, sharing resources without the expectation of payback. “It’s the moral thing to do,” he says.
Covid-19 thwarted BioRescue’s 2019 momentum, disrupting travel and diverting science funding. They wondered if they would be able to harvest more egg cells from Fatu and the aging Najin and get them to a laboratory in Italy during a global pandemic.
But given the cost and complexity – should they?
How we answer this question not only determines the rhinos’ future, but our ability to pioneer processes that will be called upon to preserve other species.
•••
The stakes could not be higher. There are no longer any living northern white rhino males after the beloved Sudan was humanely euthanized at the advanced age of 45 in 2018. Ol Pejeta employs intense security measures against the constant threat of poaching: armed rangers, electric fences, the specialized K-9 unit, motion sensor cameras, and airplane surveillance.
In 2014, scientists discovered that 20-year-old Fatu cannot conceive naturally, and recently that her mother Najin has a large tumor in her abdomen next to her left ovary, potentially compromising the egg harvesting process. Najin’s hind legs are weak and veterinarians believe a pregnancy – 16 months of depleted resources for the mother and a 100kg baby – would cause debilitating stress.
In December, BioRescue harvested 14 egg cells from Fatu using an ultrasound-guided probe. Though sperm can be frozen, unfertilized eggs cannot. Thus, Fatu’s eggs are better traveled than any of us in 2021. They were overnighted via a charter flight from Nairobi to Frankfurt to Milan, then driven to the Avantea laboratory in Cremona, Italy.
Once in Italy, Fatu’s eggs were matured and combined with frozen sperm from Suni, a bull born in 1980. (Though he died of natural causes in 2014, Suni’s sperm was collected when he was still relatively young. His sperm is considered healthier than that collected from the aged Sudan.) After eight of Fatu’s eggs were fertilized, two were deemed viable, and were cryofrozen on Christmas Eve, bringing the total frozen embryo count to five.
Though Suni is dead and Fatu cannot conceive, science has christened this couple the future of the northern white rhino.
•••
In November 2015, I joined an NGO focused on ending extreme poverty for women in Nanyuki, Kenya. Before heading to our field work further north, we drove into the Ol Pejeta Conservancy after a brief but violent rainstorm. There, I witnessed the last remnants of several species: a handful of Grevy’s zebra, a reticulated giraffe, a cheetah, and – just beyond an electric fence and armed guards - the last three northern white rhinos. Sudan was still alive.
I walked through Ol Pejeta’s rhinoceros cemetery, where a sign reads: “A Memorial to Rhinos Poached on the Conservancy Since 2004.” I stood next to a gravestone for Shemsha, a female black rhino who was “shot dead with both horns removed”. Rhino poachings are gruesome, calculated and a daily danger for both the rhinos and the rangers.
That November, I photographed Sudan and Najin in their 700 acre enclosure. Now the photos remind me of those of the last passenger pigeon named Martha, or the last Carolina Parakeets named Incas and Lady Jane. When populations dwindle, a specificity occurs. A personal connection blooms, making investment more urgent, and the loss harder to bear.
Mwenda thought he would leave his job as a keeper at Ol Pejeta after Sudan died. “No one wants to be associated with failure,” he says. “No one wants to watch a species die.”
Mwenda recalls a day three years before Sudan was euthanized. “I was standing with him out in the field, feeding him bananas. I enjoyed looking at his lovely face. I think he was feeling good. But then I looked at him and saw he was dropping tears. I know scientists will say that rhinos do not cry. But I think maybe he was feeling empty. I laid my hands on him. After that day, I decided it was not about taking selfies with rhinos and making a photo about the last of a species. It’s about making meaning. I told Sudan I would become his voice when he was gone.”
Mwenda thinks a lot about the youngest rhino, Fatu. Soon, her mother Najin’s age and tumor will lead to a decline. “Fatu is an ending,” Mwenda says. “This is her reality. She will have to bear the responsibility of being the last of her kind. She will be a symbol of political and human greed. That’s what her loneliness stands for. That is her work.”
•••
BioRescue must balance short term objectives – like extracting eggs and freezing embryos – with ambitious long-term plans.
“We plan to have a calf on the ground in two to three years,” Hildebrandt tells me.
First, scientists will plant Suni and Fatu’s embryos into a southern white rhino female, a similar rhino which diverged from the northern white rhino around a million years ago. Owuan, a sterilized southern white bull, arrived at the conservancy in early December to help indicate when the female is in heat, maximizing chances that the embryo will take.
Luckily, frozen embryos are not the only path forward. Nobel Prize-winning scientist Shinya Yamanka’s work with mice shows that skin cells can be transfigured with stem cells to create gametes – or, as the everyday reader might think of it: test tube rhinos. According to Hildebrandt, enough skin cell samples exist to create the necessary genetic diversity for a healthy future population. Over 20 to 30 years, the population would grow in surrogates and sanctuaries. One day – perhaps when Fatu and the original scientists are gone – northern white rhinos will return to Uganda, the most feasible country in the rhino’s original range.
The embryos are currently stored in a tank of liquid nitrogen kept at -196C, with a backup generator for additional security. Theoretically, the embryos will continue to be viable for thousands of years, waiting for science to catch up.
“Liquid nitrogen buys us time,” Hildebrandt says.
I think of Norway’s Svalbard Global Seed Vault, or as some call it – the Doomsday Vault. I imagine the analogous sperm and oocyte bank of endangered species, a frozen Noah’s Ark, where embryos from Fatu and Suni join embryos from vaquitas, cheetahs and Right Whales. A so-called Bio Bank.
But liquid nitrogen cannot replace what Hildebrandt calls “social knowledge”. It’s critical that a baby northern white rhino spend time with Fatu and Najin to learn the proper head position for grazing. “A southern white rhino can provide a northern white rhino milk,” Hildebrandt says. “But not species-specific knowledge.”
•••
How do we determine which species are worth saving, and how far to go? How do we realize when we’re pushing western conservation standards and consequences on other nations – like punishing hungry locals hunting animals for bush meat, or asking them to change longstanding cultural beliefs and medicinal practices? Is conservation a global concern? These are questions that will be asked increasingly as the planet hurtles through its sixth mass extinction.
I ask BioRescue if, ethically speaking, there’s a way the conservation community thinks about prioritizing spending to prevent extinction. For example, do we prioritize animals who have an important function in their ecological niche?
Hildebrandt points out that preserving the integrity of keystone species and ecosystems is a public health issue. “We may get more pandemics as systems break down,” he notes, thinking about HIV, Ebola, Covid, and ones we can’t yet imagine. Unhealthy and unnatural ecosystems release pathogens and promote the spread of disease.
“This is not just exotic conservation or a scientific exercise, like the mammoth project,” Hildebrandt explains, “but an attempt to repair a complex ecosystem. We are providing solutions for irresponsible behavior. It is much wiser to save species through responsible behavior, while we still can.”
“Think of all the other ridiculous things humans spend money on. This may be cheap in comparison,” Jan Stejskal, director of international projects for the Dvůr Králové Zoo, tells me.
“I believe in the value of the rhino himself,” Stejskal adds. “Who can ascribe value to an animal? It’s about more than subsistence. It’s deeper than that.”
“It’s existential, a new philosophy,” Hildebrandt says. “Sudan is not dead for me. What is death? He is saving his species. This is life. It’s a complex process, but it’s possible to preserve life, and give opportunities to future generations.”
Mwenda hopes that the upside of Covid’s impact on tourism is that Kenyans have been able to connect with wildlife through opportunities usually reserved for tourists. He wants Kenyans to see the northern white rhinos as not just good for tourists, but good for Africa.
“These rhinos are my family,” Mwenda says. “I spend more time with them than my own family. I truly love them.” His shift is winding down as we finish our talk. Soon, he will escort Najin and Fatu to their evening enclosure, his favorite time of day.
“Right now it sounds helpless,” Hildebrandt says. “But we have a fair chance. We just need support. The fragility of our planet is dramatic. We must act now.”
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