With rhino horn demanding ever-increasing bounties, particularly in the Far East where it’s mistakenly perceived as having medicinal properties and attributed among other things as being a cure for cancer, there is a seemingly insatiable demand. Rhino populations in particular have suffered massively, not only at the loss of their natural environment, but also at the hands of poachers. If we continue at the current rate, it doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out the end result. It is estimated that in the past 40 years alone more than 40 per cent of the world’s wildlife has been lost, and humans are largely to blame. According to the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), destruction of natural habitats and the illegal wildlife trade are the root causes. Across the planet we’re experiencing extinction events on an unprecedented scale. The northern white rhino is just one of many species on the brink.
The team at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, headed by CEO Richard Vigne, is determined not to give up the fight. Yet somehow, in this most tragic of scenarios, there is a glimmer of hope. Sudan is too old to mate with the two remaining females Fatu and Najin, and so, you would think, the story ends there. As things stand, we’re witnessing the extinction of the species. With the death of Nola, a 41-year-old female, at San Diego Zoo in November 2015, three remain, all living at Ol Pejeta. Until recently there were just four northern white rhinos left in the world. At the grand old age of 42, Sudan has already exceeded the average life span for the species by seven years. His name is Sudan and such is the continuing threat from poachers that this gentle creature lives under 24-hour armed guard. The Last Stand of the Northern White Rhino, NairobiĢ4 January 2016 Oi Pejeta Conservancy is home to the last male northern white rhino on the planet.
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