Lonesome George Dies

Sunday, June 25^th 2012 marked the passing of Lonesome George, a giant Galapagos tortoise believed to be the last of its subspecies and a potent symbol for conservation efforts internationally.  

It was the differences in appearance between tortoises on the Galapagos islands that helped Charles Darwin formulate his theory of evolution. With the passing of George, another evolutionary link has been permanently erased from our planet.

As the last surviving Pinta Tortoise, Lonesome George’s cautionary tale of extinction unfolded as a result of human actions such as overhunting and mismanagement of scarce resources.

Our condolences go out to all who understand that we have lost something more than a single giant tortoise; we have lost a little bit of our own humanity.  To learn more about Lonesome George’s history and meaning, we encourage everyone to visit the site of Citizen’s client, Lonesome George & Co., who uses proceeds from the sales of sustainable apparrel to educate tomorrow’s youth and to prevent other Lonesome George situations from happening at a time of frightening and increasing extinction rates.  

BBC Reports on the News here.