Why???

I'm all for conservation, but this Yahoo news article is a little baffling.


Here honey, Merry Christmas!!!
Fri Dec 7, 3:35 PM ET
YULEE, Fla. - Stumped about what to give that special someone this Christmas? How about some rhino poop? The International Rhino Foundation is auctioning separately on eBay four pieces of dung from the endangered species and will use the proceeds to fund conservation efforts.

The pieces come from four of the five types of rhino: white, black, Indian and Sumatran. The Javan rhino is so rare, a sample could not be collected. Each piece is dried, mounted in a clear trophy case and marked with the type of rhino that produced it.

The auction ends Sunday and as of Thursday afternoon bidding had been light, with the top bid for Sumatran rhino poop standing at $500. Black rhino poop was standing at $255, Indian was at $250 and white was at $122.50.

The foundation, which is based at the White Oak Conservation Center, says only about 17,500 rhinos remain in the wild with another 1,200 living in captivity.

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As a postscript, I see that the "items" went for big bucks. Good for the IRF, I guess. I do particularly like the tagline "Buy Endangered Feces to Save an Endangered Species."