Rally To The Cause Of The Curly-Haired Pig!

From curly-haired pigs in Croatia to cold-resistant cattle in Siberia, hundreds of farm animal breeds risk extinction, according to U.N. experts who are encouraging creation of animal semen and embryo banks.

The Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization reported Tuesday on the status of 3,882 breeds of 28 species around the world, and classified 873 of those breeds as “at risk” - meaning fewer than 1,000 females or 20 breeding males exist.

“Almost a third of all animal genetic resources … are now at very high risk of loss,” said Keith Hammond, an animal genetics’ expert for the U.N. agency.

In Europe, half of the breeds that existed at the turn of the century have become extinct; 41 percent of the remaining 1,500 breeds for which population data are available are in danger of disappearing over the next 20 years.”

“In North America, over one-third of livestock and poultry breeds are rare or in decline.”