The Last Male Standing

Prince William has issued a grave warning to the world. The world has 5-10 years to save Rhino’s before they go extinct.

In an interview with ITV, the Duke of Cambridge said that it would be ‘devastating for humanity’ if animals continue to be slaughtered.

Sudan is a direct victim of all this. He is the last male Northern White Rhino in the world. With a life expectancy of 40, he is now 43 and does not have much time left.

“He likes to be rubbed under his belly, he finds it relaxing and reassuring,” Zachary Mutai, one of Sudan’s five keepers, says.

We are at the Ole Pajeta Conservancy, located two hours away from the capital city Nairobi; it is home to not only Sudan, but 106 black rhinos, thus making it the biggest rhino conservancy in East Africa.

“Make sure you stand on the right side of his head,” Mutai cautions.

“He is blind in his left eye and has a short memory span, he could forget you’re here and charge at you.”

Mutai looks over and notices the worry in my face and smiles.

“Don’t worry, he is friendly and gentle. But animals can be unpredictable.”

The irony is Sudan’s species has a very unpredictable future. With his back legs weak and his sperm count low, the chances of being able to mount a female and impregnate her are bleak. Furthermore, in order to even attempt to mate with a female it would require him to fight.

“In order for rhinos to mate, they have to fight. If the male wins they mate. But if the female wins, there is no mating.”

Unfortunately for Sudan, he had to be separated and kept away from his female counterparts for his own safety.

“There is no way he’d win a fight. It might kill him. We have had to fence him away from the others,” Mutai adds.

Perhaps the most prevalent question then is how such a great species is on the brink of extinction and why?

I asked Mutai what the main reason for the mass extinction of this rhino sub species was and the answer was not surprising.

“Human failure is to blame for the mass killing of the Rhino,” he says bluntly.

“People are killing them because of their horns. In fact, I am convinced that humans are the most dangerous animals in the world.”

This coming from somebody who had learned to live and communicate with animals, was quite telling.

The Northern White Rhino subspecies was once strong all through Central Africa. They could be found in Uganda, Central African Republic, Southern Chad and the DRC. They were populous and thrived up until the civil wars and poaching took effect. Their numbers declined dramatically from 2000 in 1960, to only fifteen by the year 1984.

There were officially six white northern rhinos in the world after the year 2000- Four were transported from Dvur Krlov Zoo in the Czech Republic to Ol Pajeta in 2009.Two rhinos went to live in the San Diego Zoo. In October 2015, Suni, a male, aged 34 and one of the four living in Kenya fell over and died from unknown causes. There was speculation that poachers were responsible, however an autopsy found he had died of natural causes despite being quite young.

Sudan, who is named after the country he was born in – South Sudan, was captured in the Shambe region when he was just one year old. He was then shipped to the Czech Republic in 1973, to stay at the Dvur Krlov Zoo where he was part of their white rhinoceros display. In 2009, he was taken to the Ole Pajeta Conservancy where he now stays with his two female counterparts – his daughter Najin and granddaughter Fatu.

But it is not just the Northern White Rhino that is at risk of extinction.

In 2011, the Western Black Rhino was declared extinct after a steady decline from poaching. In the same year, a subspecies of the Vietnamese Javan rhino was declared extinct as well.

The African Elephant population has declined significantly. New figures from the International Union for Conservation of Nature showed that the African Elephant population fell from 550,000 to 470,000 between 2006 and 2013. East Africa’s statistics are worse – numbers have fallen from 150,000 to 100,000 in the same period.

In 2014, Selous Game reserve in Tanzania was added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites under threat. Since 1982, elephant and rhino numbers have fallen by 90 per cent since the reserve was first listed.

Today, only twenty-nine years since the historic banning of ivory trade, it would seem that the emerging market for ivory threatens not only Africa’s rhino, but Africa’s elephants too.

In March 2015, President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya made a bold public statement by setting fire to 15 tonnes of Ivory.

“Many of these tusks belonged to elephants which were wantonly slaughtered by criminals”, he said at the ceremony held in Nairobi National Park.

This was part of the country’s attempt to curb poaching.

“We want future generations of Kenyans, Africans and indeed the entire world to experience the majesty and beauty of these magnificent animals. Poachers and their enablers will not have the last word in Kenya”.

The ivory, which held a black market value of £19.5m, was the largest consignment to be destroyed in Kenya.

“We are committed to combating the menace robustly and persistently until we dismantle the entire vile economy”.

The president has since established Interpol’s new regional office on environmental crime in Kenya which hopes to be a significant boost in the battle to fight ivory trade and hold those responsible for it, accountable.

Fuelled by criticism that it was responsible for poaching in Africa, in February 2015, China imposed a one-year ban on importing ivory.

Hong Kong has also been infamously known for illegal ivory trade. With some of the world’s busiest container terminals and airports, it regularly seizes illegal shipments of ivory which in 2013, reached a record of 8,041 kg.

In October of the same year, Prince William recorded a message for President Xi Jinping stating that if African elephants continued to be killed at the current rate of 54 a day, there would be none by the time his daughter, Princess Charlotte, was 25.

“My rejection of ivory today is not a judgement of past generations. It is an acceptance of the world as I find it today and the world I want my children, George and Charlotte, to inherit,” he said.

“Likewise, those doctors and medical practitioners in China that are speaking out against the use of endangered species in medicine, they are not judging previous generations who did not have the facts that you do today. They are just accepting the truth that all credible evidence and scientific research shows, for example, that rhino horns cannot cure cancer.”

Ivory, in Hong Kong and China, is seen as precious material and is used in ornaments and jewellery. Some even use it in traditional Chinese medicine. Viewed as an object of good luck, many believe that by owning one, one will become more successful.

Back at Ole Pajeta, keepers filed down Sudan’s horn to make him less attractive to poachers. In South Africa, wildlife rangers and veterinarians have resulted in sedating and removing horns off the rhinos in a bid to prevent brutal methods of hacking a rhino’s face to get the horn off.

Glancing over at Sudan, he seems oblivious to the dangers he faces, or the pressure that rides on him to save his species. His heavy head is hung low as he grazes on grass. Beside him is Mutai and another keeper. For the rest of his waking life, Sudan is to be held under 24-hour armed protection. Radio transmitters have been put on the animals and rangers have infiltrated communities in order to try and gather information on potential poaching activities within the vicinity.

“We have well trained rangers who are trained to protect the rhino,” Mutai states proudly.

But are these measures enough, I wonder. Mutai shrugs his shoulders when I ask him this question.

“We are trying our best,” he says.

There is still a glimmer of hope for Sudan and his subspecies though. In 2014, the Conservancy announced that it had produced an expert committee to ensure the survival of the subspecies. Genetic material was collected from the last few northern whites and was kept for future breeding trails.

With hopes to breed successfully, in 2014 the conservancy penned Najin and Fatu, the last two northern white females, with a Southern White rhino male. Releasing a statement and referring to the move as Plan B, the Ole Pajeta Conservancy said:

“Though the inter-crossed offspring will not be a pure Northern white rhino, this will enable us to conserve the Northern white rhino genes in a habitat and environment that they have evolved in. In future, there is potential for the inter-crossed offspring to be bred back with pure Northern white rhinos – thereby increasing the proportion of locally adapted Northern white rhino genes in future generations of a healthy white rhino population. It is also our hope that after conceiving with a Southern white rhino male, it will be easier for Najin and Fatu to conceive a pure Northern white rhino offspring through techniques such as artificial insemination.”

The team are also looking at using a Southern White rhino as a surrogate for the endangered species. This would then create a pure bred Northern white calf.

Unfortunately, the technology to do this for rhinos is yet to be created and risking this procedure on the last remaining whites is unwise without further trials. Therefore, Ole Pajeta along with Dvur Krlovt are trying to raise over $1m to contribute to this.

The conservancy along with wildlife organisations such as WWF are seeking to raise awareness and encourage conservation of these animals.

“We are raising awareness to everyone. To let them know the importance of conservation,” Mutai states.

Though every measure possible is being taken to try and save this subspecies, one has to wonder if it is all in vain. It would seem that poaching and its illegal markets are increasingly becoming a prevalent problem in Africa.

As I gently walk towards Sudan and stroke its tough exterior, a sudden sadness comes over me. The thought of the fact that such a prehistoric animal could have survived hundreds of years, only to be killed for its one unique asset, is inconceivable. It is a shame to think that the death of these animals are as a result of human negligence, selfishness and inconsideration. One has to wonder to what extent we as humans are willing to go to satisfy our materialistic needs.

American medical researcher and virologist Jonas Salk once said:

“If all the insects were to disappear from the earth, within 50 years all life on earth would end. If all human beings disappeared from the earth, within 50 years all forms of life would flourish.”

Though the Northern White’s future is uncertain, the world still has the chance to prevent and protect any other rhino, and animal species as a whole from further extinction. These animals need our help more than ever.

“I hope my children will one day be able to see the rhinos I work with,” Mutai says reflectively, as we say our goodbyes.

As we leave the park, and as the sun begins to set on the savannah. I too can not help but wonder, will my visiting of the world’s last northern male white rhino be a legendary tale I can one day tell my children about? Or will it be a story I share with them as I happily conclude that Sudan’s subspecies was saved and is now flourishing. One can only hope to wait and see a positive change.