Albinos Are Becoming Forcibly Extinct in Tanzania and the Reasons will Shock You

Vice News is on a mission to expose an inhumanely vile practice that has been a crippling staple in Tanzania since 2000. Albinos are rapidly becoming extinct and this is due to a long established belief that their body parts are worth more than gold.

There is an unspoken understanding amongst some Africans that has led to the poaching of albinos based on the principle that they are a special breed – due to their uniquely powerful qualities. They are deemed otherworldly, which has armed natives with the permission to kill them in order to secure their protection against evil forces that bring bad luck.

This has become disturbingly rampant in Tanzania, forcing the United Nations to pay attention and register the region as particularly dangerous for albinos due to the high murder rate. This increasingly potent issue is garnering a lot of attention, as it should when you consider that albinos are more populous East Africa compared to other parts of the world. But their ability to thrive is hampered by the primitive advocacy in place that regulates them as useful only when they are dead. They are viewed as cursed but their body parts are valuable currency that can be used to ward off evil spirits – bringing good luck, which translates to monetary success and total wellbeing.

Human right activists are rallying to help eradicate this savage religion – in the meantime Vice News went to Tanzania to speak with an albino activist, Josephat Torner who has become the mascot for an endangered species, and a spokesperson heralding their right to live. Since 2000, more than 72 albinos have lost their lives and Torner is determined to educate the ignorant in an effort to dissuade them their destructive quest.

Click here the to get more Torner and his inspirational mission through the lenses of Vice News.