On June 3, 1844, the last known pair of breeding great auks were killed. 
 The birds, valuable as “specimens” to collectors, were hunted into extinction by 
fishermen – leaving nothing but a pair of stuffed corpses to admire.

Great Auk (Alca impennis)
Part of the Animals of the Viking Age series
Issued by Foroe Islands post on February 20, 2012
Designer: Astrid Andreasen

.. the Great Auk vanished from the world entirely when fishermen hunted down the last pair on the shores of Eldey Island, off the coast of Iceland. The men spotted the mates in the distance and attacked, catching and killing the birds as they fled for safety. The female had been incubating an egg, but in the race to catch the adults, one of the fishermen crushed it with his boot, stamping out the species for good.
When the Last of the Great Auks Died, It Was by the Crush of a Fisherman’s Boot | Smithsonian (smithsonianmag.com)

Humanity really sucks sometimes.