Black rhino relocation launches new rhino sanctuary in Kenya

Ruma National Park 
February 2012. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has successfully completed the last phase of the black rhino translocation from Mugie Rhino sanctuary and Solio Ranch in Laikipia to Ruma National Park. 

The project saw a total of 21 black rhinos introduced into Ruma National Park in two phases. Speaking during the translocation exercise, Forestry and Wildlife Minister, Dr. Noah Wekesa, noted with great concern the magnitude of the escalating poaching and its effect on the critically endangered rhino species. "I want to send a strong message to the poachers that they shall be dealt with severely according to the law," Dr. Wekesa said. He reiterated that his ministry will ensure that the current penalties for wildlife offenders are quickly reviewed and made more punitive to discourage poaching.

Enhance tourism in western Kenya
The introduction of rhinos in the park is seen as a move to enhance tourism in the Western Kenya tourism circuit and unlocking tourism potential in the area. Dr. Wekesa encouraged all players in the tourism sector to invest heavily in the region. He appealed for aggressive marketing of the national park along with other tourism sites like the famous Thim Lich Ohinga ruins, the famous Luo legend, Gor Mahia, Lake Victoria, the rich Luo culture and the Homa Hills hot springs of Simbi Nyaima.

Rhino poaching
The translocation has come at a time when the world is witnessing an increase in the illegal killing of rhinos. A worrying note is the sophistication and the level of organization of illegal traders in the rhino horn. A total of 1,400 rhinos were killed in Africa over the last five years. Of these, seventy were in Kenya mainly to satisfy illegal demand for the horn by some Asian countries.

Ruma rhino sanctuary
Ruma National Park in Nyanza was officially launched as a rhino sanctuary at the end of last year during the first phase of the translocation exercise. This was a historic comeback of rhinos to this area. With a capacity of hosting 85 black rhinos, the last time rhinos were sighted in the Ruma general area was in mid 1950s, more than half a century ago. Black rhino numbers reduced from 20,000 in 1960s to less than 300 by mid 1980s in Kenya mainly due to hunting. 

However, renewed conservation efforts by KWS and other conservation efforts have seen the numbers begin to rise again. The current national total of black rhinos now stands at 620.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/ruma-rhino.html

Rhino and calf recovering from AK47 attack

February 2012: A black rhino and her young calf have made a remarkable recovery after being hit by a burst of automatic gunfire in Zimbabwe. 

A burst of automatic gunfire was heard in the Save Valley Conservancy's Lowveld one recent late afternoon. The International Rhino Foundation's anti-poaching patrols were rapidly deployed to the area and began tracking a black rhino cow and calf that had fled the site of the shooting.

Left a trail of bloodThe cow appeared to be dragging her hind legs and was leaving a trail of blood, indicating that she had been badly wounded. From the location and the shape of their tracks, the injured animals were identified as ‘Double' and her 16-month-old calf ‘Trouble'.

Double's horn had been fitted with a radio-transmitter, so trackers were able to quickly locate the pair the next day using radio-telemetry equipment. Both rhinos had sustained gunshot wounds and required urgent medical attention.

Recovery was closely monitoredA vet immobilised the rhinos, finding seven AK-47 bullet holes in Double and a further one in Trouble's front knee. Fortunately, all the bullets had missed vital organs. Antibiotics and vitamins were given to both rhinos to help fight infection and aid recovery. Since Double and Trouble could walk well enough to find food and water, and since the mother could be tracked electronically, the team decided to leave the pair in the field and closely monitor their recovery.

The first tracking effort found Double moving well and feeding, but alone and fears for Trouble escalated. But after three weeks, Trouble turned up walking well but thinner for the stress of being separated from his mother and his unintended early weaning - black rhino calves suckle milk until they are 20 months old.

Trouble remains in the general area of his mother and hopes are high that the two will find each other again, as black rhino cows and their weaned calves often do. Both have made remarkable recoveries and have not needed further treatment. 

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/rhino-gunfire.html

Six Black rhinos die of natural causes in Zambia's North Luangwa

All died within weeks of each otherDecember 2011: In a tragic blow, six black rhinos have died in Zambia in a period of just a few weeks.

The animals died from natural causes - but the age, sex and cause of all the deaths, which all happened in North Luangwa National Park, are all seemingly unrelated.

The Frankfurt Zoological Society's North Luangwa Conservation programme (FZS-NLCP) has convened an Emergency Rhino Forum and invited experts from across southern Africa to brainstorm and attempt to resolve why these deaths have all occurred in such a short space of time.

'We had been optimistic we were turning a corner...'A spokesmen for FZS-NLCP said: ‘It is with great sadness that we report these deaths. Until recently we were optimistic we were turning a corner with the new founder population.

‘We had experienced nine births and four deaths - all natural - up to that point and had a population of 30. Three of the females had become first time mothers in 2011. This was very positive news as one female had been in NLNP for five years without successfully breeding.

‘The tragedies began in late October when a female called Mwine Mpanga who had given birth three months earlier was sighted without her calf. No spoor was seen and the calf has not been found since.

It came down to the nutritional crunch‘Although we can't rule out predation or social aggressive interaction for a calf of this age, the most likely assumption is that this female stopped lactating during this difficult time of the year, just prior to the rains when vegetation and water resources are at their worst - a period we refer to as the nutritional crunch. Mwine was unable to sustain herself and the calf nutritionally and, as a consequence, the calf has died.

‘The second and third deaths were similar to the Mwine Mpanga situation in that a female, Buntungwa, had given birth three months earlier to a calf. This was the female who had been translocated to NLNP in 2006 and had not bred successfully in the five years since. We were very excited she'd had a calf and felt it was a positive endorsement from Buntungwa that things were going well. Her carcass was found in early November but the calf has not been found and is presumed dead.

‘It is speculated that Buntungwa simply tried too hard to support herself and the calf and with the nutritional crunch at its height, she was unable to survive.'

Young male was stumblng and injuredJust a few days later, came more bad news, when an 18-month-old male was seen stumbling and appeared to be injured. As he was still with his mother and suckling, it was felt leaving him with her would be the best thing to do. The following morning he was found dead with his mother standing over him. A post mortem examination revealed extensive injury and major trauma to the ribs and shoulders as a result of social aggressive interaction. Dominant rhino bulls are known to fend off sub-adults from females who are in oestrus and this young male died from his injuries.

Just a few days later a report came in regarding a female translocated to NLNP in 2010. She was found to be listless and lethargic and had rapidly deteriorated since a sighting two weeks earlier. She was treated for sleeping sickness and monitored closely over the next 48hrs. She had settled in a small gully and was too weak to stand but continued to eat the lucerne she was offered. An emergency vet was called to assess her condition but she had died by the following morning.

Hoping the disasters were over, conservationists were horrified to learn that a rhino's transmitter had been picked up emitting just 15 pulses per minute, indicating mortality. A ground team investigated and found the body of a 2006 translocated 14-year-old male. It was not possible to carry out an extensive post mortem due to the state of the carcass but evidence suggests he died as a result of fighting injuries.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/rhino-zambia.html

Western black rhino declared extinct

No wild black rhinos remain in West Africa, according to the latest global assessment of threatened species.

The Red List, drawn up by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has declared the subspecies extinct.

A subspecies of white rhino in central Africa is also listed as possibly extinct, the organisation says.

The annual update of the Red List now records more threatened species than ever before.

The IUCN reports that despite conservation efforts, 25% of the world's mammals are at risk of extinction. As part of its latest work it has reassessed several rhinoceros groups.

Poaching vulnerability
As well as declaring the western black rhino (Diceros bicornis longipes) extinct, it records the northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), a subspecies in central Africa, as being on the brink of extinction.

The last Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus) outside Java is also believed to have disappeared.

Overall numbers of black and white rhinos have been rising, but some subspecies have been particularly vulnerable to poaching by criminal gangs who want to trade the animals' valuable horns.

Simon Stuart, chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, told BBC News: "They had the misfortune of occurring in places where we simply weren't able to get the necessary security in place.

"You've got to imagine an animal walking around with a gold horn; that's what you're looking at, that's the value and that's why you need incredibly high security."

Another focus for this year's list is Madagascar and its reptiles. The report found that 40% of terrestrial reptiles are threatened. But it also says that new areas have been designated for conservation.

That will help protect endangered species including Tarzan's chameleon (Calumma tarzan) and the limbless skink (Paracontias fasika).

Among the success stories identified in the latest annual update is the reintroduction of the Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus). Listed extinct in the wild in 1996, it was brought back after a captive breeding programme and the wild population is now thought to exceed 300.

Among the partner organisations involved in compiling the research for the list is the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

ZSL's Dr Monika Boehm said: "This Red List update very much shows us a mixed picture of what's happening to the world's species. There's some good news and some bad news.

"Unfortunately, the overall trend is still a decline in biodiversity. We still haven't achieved our conservation potential."
By Daniel Boettcher Environment Correspondent
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15663982

Rhinoceros head stolen from Brussels museum

A stuffed rhinoceros head was stolen from the Brussels Natural History Museum, the second such robbery in Belgium in less than a month.

"At closing time, the head of a black 'Diceros bicornis' rhinoceros exhibited in the mammals gallery was stolen by three people," the museum said in a statement issued after the Tuesday heist. The rhino robbers fled to a waiting car with a driver, with museum guards in hot pursuit. "They got away before we could catch then," the museum added.

Read on...

Eastern black rhinos are being reintroduced to Tanzania:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/7756380/Black-rhinos-released-in-Tanzania-in-most-ambitious-relocation-of-mammals-ever.html

submitted by Chad Arment