‘And then there were four,’ Czech zoo’s northern white rhino dies

The northern white rhinoceros, one of the world’s most critically endangered species, inched a step closer to total extinction after one died in a Czech zoo on Monday, leaving just four of the highly hunted animals left on earth, Huffington Post reports.

The 31-year-old rhino’s cyst was so huge, it was untreatable, a rhino curator at the Dvur Kralove zoo said in a statement.

It was impossible for her to breed naturally because she was plagued with uterine cysts.

The species has been extinct in the wild for a decade due to illegal hunting with the last animals living in captivity, three in a Kenyan conservation park and one in a San Diego zoo.

Northern white rhinos have been on the brink of extinction for years because of poaching and habitat loss.

Hunters sell their tusks to countries like China, where some people believe ivory has healing powers.

The death of the female white rhino leaves only four northern white rhinos alive in the whole world. But this scenario was not to be for Naribe because her condition proved to be fatal.

Nadire was born at the zoo in November 15, 1983, and lived their until her death on Monday, July 27, according to the New York Daily News.

Nabire was the last remaining northern white rhinoceros at the Czech Republic’s Dvur Kralove Zoo. The 350 square kilometer (90,000 acres) wildlife conservancy is home to the three northern white rhinos, 105 black rhinos, and 23 white rhinos. Nola is the only surviving female outside of Africa.

Scientist also need to develop IVF procedures that would work best on rhinos, which have never been done before.