Only five Northern White Rhino left in the world.

[klr]

They are officially fucked then, having long since passed the point of inbreeding depression. Better store their genes or something ...

Not necessarily. Cheetahs supposedly survived an evolutionary bottleneck of only six individuals.

True, but not all species can survive such a tiny bottleneck. The cheetah might be unusual in that regard.

Anyway, we'd have to carefully breed the remaining stock for generations to come, to gradually introduce some genetic diversity. It will certainly be extinct in the wild for the foreseeable future.

[Pappa]

They are officially fucked then, having long since passed the point of inbreeding depression. Better store their genes or something ...

Not necessarily. Cheetahs supposedly survived an evolutionary bottleneck of only six individuals.

True, but not all species can survive such a tiny bottleneck. The cheetah might be unusual in that regard.

Anyway, we'd have to carefully breed the remaining stock for generations to come, to gradually introduce some genetic diversity. It will certainly be extinct in the wild for the foreseeable future.

Yes, unfortunately so.

[trdsf]

At least one private reserve in South Africa is doing just that.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/04/09/sou ... -poaching/

Unfortunately it just makes you sick. I'd go for a slow and agonizing death. Micro-encapsulated Ebola virus, perhaps?

Nah, go right to the source. A chemical castrator. Assuming it's not also effective on the rhino.