[ad_1]
It began at dawn with the ping of a tranquilizer dart fired from a helicopter, a meticulously planned operation to save the black rhinoceros from extinction.
After decades of inhuman poaching in an area of eastern Kenya that had seen animals numbers dropped from 5,000 to 10 in the wild, veterinarians, forest rangers, and conservationists. environment are determined to do things properly.
The Mirror is the only newspaper in the world invited to the 12-hour translocation journey. were displaced in East Tsavo National Park, where they were decimated by gangs of poachers.
We traveled 300 miles with the vehicles carrying Jack, a six-year-old man of two tons, and Mwanahamisi, four years old. woman, from the capital Nairobi along a busy road.
(1965: 00007) Read More
They were at the vanguard missionary to create a new breeding population of black rhinos
The hope was that these two young rhinos, chosen because they came from healthy and productive lines, would produce their own children in the years to come
. Jack and Mwanahamisi died before being released into the wild in a high security sanctuary that took years to build.
Six more rhinos were moved from Nairobi to a temporary camp on red dust.
Six more people transported to a separate compound in Nakuru, which is four hours north of Nairobi, survived
(Image: ROWAN GRIFFITHS)
This is an unprecedented result that no expert could have predicted after previous successes. Nobody knows why it went wrong this time.
Some suspect that rhinos have died because their bodies could not adapt to the change from drinking fresh water to salt water. It is not thought that those responsible for the move were aware of the salt concentration in the supply.
Others fear that a virus has spread among animals. A specialist vet was recruited in South Africa to conduct an investigation.
I spoke with the coordinator of the World Wildlife Fund's rhino program, Martin Mulama, who has been working with endangered species for 20 years.
"At the hour when three poachers are killed every day by poachers, the loss is particularly painful for those of us who are fighting to protect them."
He explains why environmental advocates were forced to adopt the
(Image: ROWAN GRIFFITHS)
He told me that there were more than 70,000 black rhinos in the wild in the 1960s, but only 2,410 in 1995 because of poaching.
On October 9, 1961, the Mirror presented a shocking photograph of rhinoceros on the front page, titled "Doomed".
-page presentation followed the formation of the Wildlif of the world The Fund has, a few weeks earlier, brought vital attention to a little known crisis.
"disappeared to disappear from the face of the earth because of FOLLY, GREED, NEGLECT of the man," continues the article. something is done quickly, the animals like this rhinoceros will soon be as dead as the dodo. "
The money donated by readers helped WWF buy land along Lake Nakuru in northern Kenya, and between 1970 and 1992 about 96 percent of black rhinos were lost to poachers fueled rhinoceros horn trade.
Backed by cartels and terrorist groups, they cut rhinoceroses. 'Horns and left their carcbades to rot under the scorching sun.
(Image: ROWAN GRIFFITHS)
The market is fueled by the mistaken belief in Vietnam and, increasingly, in China that rhinoceros horn has medicinal properties.
In fact – as we saw when veterinarians were drilling a hole in Jack's horn keratin, just like human hair and nails. After successful relocations through In Africa, the black rhinoceros population is greater than 5000.
But with greedy poachers ready to take greater risks, despite harsher prison sentences, the battle is far from over. completed in Kenya. A lot of planning because we want to have a length in advance, "Martin told Tsavo, who is the size of Northern Ireland.
Nothing was required for granted during the operation we witnessed.
We were in the helicopter The pilot flew over Jack about 10 meters below, then a vet put the dart into his thick skin. 19659002] Within 10 minutes, Jack was on the ground and all-terrain vehicles arrived to prepare it.While a vet was dipping his wounds in an antiseptic, two others were drilling a deep hole in his horn and inserting a microchip and a transmitter.
The transmitter allegedly allowed Tsavo's rangers to detect rhinoceros movements and the flea would have helped to pursue the captured poachers with the horn
(Image: REUTERS)
Read more
Top Stories from Mirror Online
The sleeping rhinoceros was then tied up as a large crate was lowered right in front of his head.
Eleven strong men held her just in case he was expelled. Then, with a low moaning noise, he jumped into the crate in a sudden surge of energy
Once the crate closed, a hydraulic arm lifted it onto a platform truck and he was taken to Tsavo.
Translocations to the 10,000-hectare remote sanctuary, surrounded by an electric fence and equipped with sensors to detect poachers, were suspended after Friday's terrible news. But Martin and his WWF colleagues always aim to increase the number to 100.
Once this has happened, fences can fall and rhinos can roam the plains as they do.
wrong, the reproach does not come back to the Conservatives.
Blood is in the hands of poachers, horn traffickers and buyers in the Far East. Without them, it would not have been necessary to uproot the poor Jack and Mwanahamisi
The last love of the ecologists for the last white rhino
Martin Mulama brought the last four white rhinos to a zoo from the Czech Republic to Kenya. Among them was the last male Sudan, which has become a worldwide symbol of the appalling impact of poaching and trophy hunting.
Sudan sadly died earlier this year without mating with any of the last two remaining females. effectively extinguished. Martin said: "The main hope has always rested on the young Suni, but he died in 2014. I have much better known Sudan."
"I would heal him every day, at least he died in Africa."
He added, "Their disappearance is mainly due to poor governance and militia groups."
Facts about rhinoceros
● There are five rhinoceros species: African white and black rhinoceroses, one-horned rhinos, Sumatran rhinoceros, and Java rhinoceros
● About 98% of rhinoceros are found in the world. Africa is found in four countries: South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Zimbabwe
● The white rhinoceros subspecies is the only conservation success, falling from less than 100 in 1895 to more than 20 000 in nature today
Source link
