On what year did the animal sacrifices cease and why?

Since the destruction of the second temple on the 9th of Av 70 CE, animal sacrifices ceased to exist, since offering are only allowed in that place. The Korban Tamid – the daily offering – actually stopped some time before that. The Mishna Taanit 4, 6; teaches us that the Korban Tamid stopped being practiced on the 17th of Tamuz; the Mishna however does not mention a year. Rashi on Daniel 8, 14; reckons that is stopped six years before the destruction; the Ibn-Ezra ibid 24, believes it happened only some three and a half years before the destruction.