This rhino is the last of its kind. Sudan is the last hope for his species, Rangers in Kenya are literally risking their lives to protect the 43 years old rhino and keep him safe. Sudan is the world’s last surviving male northern white rhino, they stripped him of his horn for his own safety and they guard him 24 hours as a final resort to save his species. Because of the rising price of ivory, Sudan has a very high price on his head
Sudan is 43 years old and can live to his 50’s, he is the last chance for any future northern white rhinos have. Sudan and two other female rhino have been moved from a zoo in Czech Republic in 2009 to a reserve which specialize in the conservation of rhinos and it was chosen because of its successful program with black rhinos
The hope was that when they move it could encourage them to breed, but so far attempts have been unsuccessful, the project got another blow when Suni the world’s only other male died last October
Simor Irungu which is one of the guards protecting Sudan says the team take a huge risk to keep him safe
” With the rising demand for rhino horn and ivory, we face many poaching attempts and while we manage to counter a large number of these, we often risk our lives in the line of duty”
It is sad that this will be the end of this species once roamed across the heart of Africa , from southern Chad to the Democratic Republic of Congo and into Sudan, just over half a century ago there were 2,000 northern white rhinos
The poaching toke his toll and the last northern white rhino were spotted in 2006, their extinction has been fueled by the growing demand for ivory which comes largely from the far east where it is believed to be a cure for several ilnesses.
The price of ivory is now £40,000 per kilo , this is up from £541 back in the 90’s , Elodie Sampere who is one of the guards explains ” The only reason his horn has been cut off is to deter poachers, if the rhino has no horn, he is of no interest to them, this is purely to keep him safe”
Keeping the rhino safe is a costly business, the team of 40 guards cost £75,000 for six months, usually they would pay them with money coming in from tourism but with the recent instability in Kenya and fear of Ebola have kept people away.
So now the team is trying to raise money through crowd funding, ” they are given world-class training and kitted with the latest equipment and support, we are aiming to raise enough to safeguard the wages for the 40 strong team for the next six months, this is £75,000 that every single pound contributed will help secure the rangers, that secure the rhino, for us and for future generations.
If you wanna help. you can donate here: GoFundMe
Source: Dailymail
