Armed
men at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya have a big job as they are
tasked with guarding the last male northern white rhino on Earth.
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Published Tuesday, April 14, 2015 8:51AM EDT
The armed men guarding the last male northern white rhino on Earth say
they're overwhelmed by the online support they're getting, after photos
of them escorting the animal went viral.
The photos show the armed "Rhino Rangers" standing guard around a rhino in the Ol Pejeta wildlife sanctuary in Kenya. The images were captured several months ago, but recently went viral on Twitter, touching off a surge in donations to the Rhino Rangers' GoFundMe campaign. A post on the GoFundMe page early Tuesday says more than $4,600 has been donated since Sunday.
"We're blown away by all your donations and messages of support!" the post said.
The Rhino Rangers are the last line of defence for 105 black rhinos, 23
white rhinos and three of the last five remaining northern white rhinos
in existence at the Ol Pejeta sanctuary. The rhinos are targeted by
poachers, who kill the animals and steal their horns for sale on the
Asian black market.
The Rhino Rangers say two rhinos have been killed at their sanctuary in the last 18 months, but the poachers did not get away with the horn in either case. Neither rhino was a northern white rhino.
The three northern white rhinos at the sanctuary are some of the rarest creatures on Earth.
They arrived at the sanctuary in 2009, as a group of four from a zoo in the Czech Republic, in hopes they would breed and keep the race going. There were two males and two females in the group, but one male died last October.
The last male, named Sudan, is now 40 years old and nearing the end of its expected lifespan.
Population estimates counted about 2,000 northern white rhinos in the 1960s, but those numbers were decimated by unchecked hunting in the decades that followed. The World Wildlife Foundation says there were between 17 to 22 individuals alive at a protected park in July 2004, but those animals were wiped out in short order. By 2009, the only remaining northern white rhinos were those held in zoos. In addition to the three rhinos now at Ol Pejeta, one northern white rhino remains at the Dvur Kralove Zoo in Labem, Czech Republic. The other is at the San Diego Zoo in the United States.
The photos show the armed "Rhino Rangers" standing guard around a rhino in the Ol Pejeta wildlife sanctuary in Kenya. The images were captured several months ago, but recently went viral on Twitter, touching off a surge in donations to the Rhino Rangers' GoFundMe campaign. A post on the GoFundMe page early Tuesday says more than $4,600 has been donated since Sunday.
"We're blown away by all your donations and messages of support!" the post said.
Related Stories
Photos
Armed guards stand
with the last male northern white rhinoceros in the Ol Pejeta
Conservancy in Kenya. (Brent Stirton / Ol Pejeta Conservancy)
In this photo taken
Monday, Dec. 1, 2014, female northern white rhino Najin walks in her
pen at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. (AP / Ben Curtis)
The Rhino Rangers say two rhinos have been killed at their sanctuary in the last 18 months, but the poachers did not get away with the horn in either case. Neither rhino was a northern white rhino.
The three northern white rhinos at the sanctuary are some of the rarest creatures on Earth.
They arrived at the sanctuary in 2009, as a group of four from a zoo in the Czech Republic, in hopes they would breed and keep the race going. There were two males and two females in the group, but one male died last October.
The last male, named Sudan, is now 40 years old and nearing the end of its expected lifespan.
Population estimates counted about 2,000 northern white rhinos in the 1960s, but those numbers were decimated by unchecked hunting in the decades that followed. The World Wildlife Foundation says there were between 17 to 22 individuals alive at a protected park in July 2004, but those animals were wiped out in short order. By 2009, the only remaining northern white rhinos were those held in zoos. In addition to the three rhinos now at Ol Pejeta, one northern white rhino remains at the Dvur Kralove Zoo in Labem, Czech Republic. The other is at the San Diego Zoo in the United States.
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