Australian Rat Declared Extinct Due To Man-Made Climate Change

[DemocracyMouse]

Source: Huffington Post

The Australian government has confirmed the extinction of a small rodent native to a tiny spit of sand in the northernmost part of the Great Barrier Reef ― the first known mammal lost to human-caused climate change.

Bramble Cay melomys lived on the coral island of Bramble Cay, located in the Torres Strait between Queensland state and Papua New Guinea. The Government of Queensland initially declared the species extinct in a 2016 report, and Australian Environment Minister Melissa Price confirmed the die-off in a press release this week. The whiskered rat has been officially reclassified from “endangered” to “extinct.”

Geoff Richardson, an official with Australia’s Department of the Environment and Energy, told lawmakers on Monday that the declaration “was not a decision to take lightly,” according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

Read more: https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5c6dca24e4b0e37a1ed47b1c

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This was just announced Monday. EVERY piece of breaking news about a lost species due to OUR consumption of oil is WORSE NEWS THAN WE CAN EVEN CONCEIVE OF. Still driving around unnecessarily in gas guzzing SUVs? Please plan on going door to door for Democrats in 2020. We MUST vote out climate deniers like Trump and a majority of the Republican Party.

[DemocracyMouse]

1. And three other species went extinct in 2018

See USA Today:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/12/31/extinct-species-these-animals-were-lost-forever-2018/2450121002/

[NurseJackie]

2. It's a shame they couldn't have been bred in captivity and re-introduced.

It's a shame they couldn't have been bred in captivity and re-introduced. But if their habitat was being destroyed, they'd still die off. And moving them outside of their isolated natural habitat would have likely been a mistake too.

[jalan48]

3. A precursor of what is in store for future generations.

[LiberalLovinLug]

4. Can the mosquito be next please?

I'M KIDDING!

(kind of)

[krkaufman]

5. "Rat on an atoll"

"Rat on an atoll" is Climate Change's "canary in a coal mine."

[DemocracyMouse]

6. Meanwhile, while a small number of peole here are discussing this critical news,

the ad that follows (at least at the moment), is about Sylvester Stalone and his wife. Distractions as usual while the war against our own oil addiction goes unnoticed. Or unmet....

I wish DU did more to select discussions about global warming, habitat destruction, the Green New Deal, etc. They seem to prioritize what is politically exciting, not what is most responsible .