The northern white rhino population is now down to 6. Suni, a male rhino who lived at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, passed away this week.
CNN reports that there are only six northern white rhinos left in the world and after Suni’s death, only one breeding male. Rangers did not give a cause of death but did say that endangered rhino was not killed by poachers. Rangers believe that the 34-year-old rhino died of natural causes.
The conservancy writes in a statement: “There are now only six northern white rhinos left in the world. Suni was one of the last two breeding males in the world and no northern white rhinos are known to have survived in the wild. Consequently the species now stands at the brink of complete extinction, a sorry testament to the greed of the human race…. We will continue to do what we can to work with the remaining three animals on Ol Pejeta in the hope that our efforts will one day result in the successful birth of a northern white rhino calf.”
The Telegraph reports that Suni was born in captivity at the Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic. He was brought to Kenya in 2009 as part of a breeding program which conservationists hoped would save the species.
The white rhino population has been decimated over the last few decades. In 1960, there were more than than 2,000 white rhinos. In 1984, only 15 white rhinos remained in the wild. Now, the only six north white rhinos remaining in the world live at various conversations and zoos in Kenya, San Diego, and the Czech Republic.
[Image Via Wiki]
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