KENYA: Poachers Murder Pregnant Eastern Black Rhino

Inspite of massive investments by the Ol Pejeta Conservancy towards improved surveillance and added anti poaching measures have poachers managed to sneak into the private game sanctuary of nearly 90.000 acres in central Kenya and kill a pregnant Eastern Black Rhino.

A night patrol on foot comprising four rangers who are also police reservists, found the dead animal with both her horns already cut off.

A conservancy wide alarm was sounded prompting additional ground units to be sent into the field leading to the arrest of two suspects who are now in custody and undergoing interrogation.

The rhino's two and a half year old calf was at first light spotted to wandering alone and is being closely monitored to ensure its well being.

Conservancy sources reacted promptly to concerns over the safety of the remaining three Northern White Rhinos, the last in the wild, which are under 24/7 close up surveillance but pointed out that, with over 100 Eastern Black Rhinos on the conservancy and another nearly three dozen Southern White Rhinos, protective measures simply cannot included each of the animals being given its own patrol.

This was the first such incident on Ol Pejeta for quite some time and once again speaks for the need to let conservancies use UAV's, aka drones for added surveillance with real time updates. The drones tested by Ol Pejeta have infrared capabilities, showing movement on the ground, and were it not for sections of the Kenya government's prohibition order on the use of such devices, both rhinos could still be alive.

Meanwhile was it learned that Ol Pejeta's CEO Richard Vigne was in the United States when the incident occurred on a fundraising and speaking mission, to raise awareness on the plight of the African rhinos and the urgent need for more financial and material support.

KENYA: Only 3 Nothern White Rhinos Remain In The World At Ol Pejeta Conservancy

News of the death on Sunday of one of the only four surviving northern white rhinos has hit the conservation world hard.

This comes as efforts to save the near-extinct species remain uncertain.

Now, only three known northern white rhinos remain on the planet, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Nanyuki, following the death of Nola, a female northern white rhino in San Diego Zoo.

Nola died aged 41 on Sunday, when a lingering infection caught up with her, leaving behind only two other females Najin, 27, and her calf, Fatu, 13, and one male, Sudan, 43, under armed guard at the conservancy.

A statement from San Diego Zoo said Nola, who lived there since 1989, was under veterinary care for a bacterial infection, as well as age-related health issues.

She had begun her life in the savannahs of Sudan and was captured in 1975 and taken to the Králové Zoo, in the Czech Republic where she has spent two decades.

“In the last 24 hours, Nola’s condition worsened and we made the difficult decision to euthanize her.

“We are absolutely devastated by this loss, but resolve to fight even harder to end extinction,” the statement said.

Ol Pejeta, is together with Králové Zoo, trying to raise USD 1 million towards this with a GoFundMe campaign called 'Make a Rhino’.

“We feel really bad it’s (extinction) happening on our watch,” said Andy Blue, associate curator of mammals for the San Diego Zoo, about Nola’s death.

The zoo’s world-famous conservation programme has rescued other species from the brink of extinction, and it had been trying to breed northern white rhinos since Nola first arrived in 1989.

But the reproductive habits of the northern white rhino proved tough to make it happen in captivity.

The three rhinos left in Kenya are, however, considered by scientists too old or ill to reproduce.

The future of this subspecies now lies in the development of in vitro fertilisation techniques and stem cell technology, costly and complicated procedures that have never before been attempted on rhinos.

The animals were moved to Kenya from Dvu016Fr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic in 2009, along with one other male northern white rhino who subsequently died at Ol Pejeta.

“It was hoped that more natural conditions would encourage mating, but as several fruitless years passed, staff at Ol Pejeta were forced to explore alternatives,” said a statement dispatched by the Ol Pejeta Conservancy on November, 24 2015.

Unless a technique for rhino IVF or stem cell technology can be funded, developed, tested and implemented, the northern white rhino will become extinct.

A team of experts led by IZW Leibnitz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Berlin has been working with Dvu016Fr Králové and Ol Pejeta on this.

The 'Make a Rhino’ campaign on GoFundMe aims to raise funds to assist in the research necessary to save the species.

Ol Pejeta Conservancy is appealing to people all over the world to help towards the IVF initiative.

“We wouldn’t be asking people to donate if we didn’t truly believe that there was one last ray of hope for saving the northern white rhino” says Ol Pejeta CEO, Richard Vigne.

“It is by no means straightforward, but saving a subspecies from extinction in an age where science is capable of so many extraordinary things - I believe it can be done.

“All we need is for citizens around the world to club together to save the northern white rhino for future generations,” he added.