10 endangered black rhinos are dead after botched transfer in Kenya, a disaster for species
The sole survivor of the relocation was meanwhile attacked and injured by lions in its new home
A tenth critically endangered black rhino has died in Kenya after being moved to a new wildlife park, and the sole survivor has been attacked by lions, wildlife authorities said Thursday in what some conservationists have called a national disaster.
The Kenya Wildlife Service’s acting director has been fired and several other officials have been suspended after “clear negligence” was found in the rhinos’ transfer last month from the capital, Nairobi, to Tsavo East National Park Rhino Sanctuary, wildlife minister Najib Balala said.
Preliminary investigations show the rhinos died from stress intensified by salt poisoning as the animals struggled to adjust to saltier water in their new home, Balala said.
“Shame, shame, shame,” prominent Kenyan conservationist Paula Kahumbu wrote in a Facebook post in which she regretted not questioning the rhinos’ transfer in the first place.
The only rhino to survive the bungled relocation was attacked by lions, tourism minister Najib Balala said on Thursday.
“Unfortunately, the eleventh rhino has been attacked by lions. Yesterday it was treated. So far we are monitoring this eleventh rhino. It’s a sad situation,” he said.
Balala added: “Even one rhino is a huge loss. So we are sad and we are disappointed in some of the officers who should have taken responsibility. They didn’t take their work seriously. They were casual in their job.”
Conservationists in Africa have been working hard to protect the black rhino subspecies from poachers targeting them for their horns to supply an illegal Asian market.
According to WWF, black rhino populations declined dramatically in the 20th century, mostly at the hands of European hunters and settlers. Between 1960 and 1995 numbers dropped by 98 per cent to fewer than 2,500.
Since then the subspecies has rebounded, although it remains extremely threatened. In addition to poaching the animals also face habitat loss.
African Parks, a Johannesburg-based conservation group, said earlier this year that there are fewer than 25,000 rhinos in the African wild, of which about 20 per cent are black rhinos and the rest white rhinos.
In another major setback for conservation, the last remaining male northern white rhino on the planet died in March in Kenya, leaving conservationists struggling to save that subspecies using in vitro fertilisation.
Additional reporting by Reuters