LONDON, May 20: The northern white rhino, one of the world's most endangered animals, could be extinct in the wild within months unless poaching by Sudanese rebels stops, conservationists said on Thursday as they launched an urgent appeal for funds.

The world's 25 or so remaining wild white rhinos all live in the Garamba National Park, a United Nations World Heritage Site on the northern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo with Sudan.

Kes Hillman-Smith, a coordinator of the Garamba National Park project, said poaching had increased as Sudanese rebels said to be from the area of conflict around Darfur hunt down the rhinos for their valuable horns and tusks.

"It is the first time they have come into Garamba," said Hillman-Smith, in London for a meeting organised by the UK Save The Rhino group. "It's a worrying situation if the poaching continues at such an alarming rate," he said.

"Unless there is a major level of support, we are going to lose the last population of northern white rhinos," Hillman-Smith said. "We urgently need more funds to bring in better equipment." The rhino numbers have dwindled from almost 500 in the late 1970s. -Reuters