2971. Eight Critically Endangered Black Rhinos Die in Kenya

By Julia Jacobs, The New York Times, July 14, 2018

Photo: James Kahongeh/National Media Group.

Eight black rhinoceroses died after being transported from a national park in Kenya to a sanctuary meant to help preserve their critically endangered species, the government said on Friday.

Wildlife workers say they believe the rhinos died from drinking water with a high saline level in their new environment while being accustomed to fresh water, according to a statement from Kenya’s Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife. The government did not specify when the rhinos had died, but said such a high death rate in this sort of transport was “unprecedented” in the country.

The death toll startled conservationists in Kenya who were already mourning the loss of the last male northern white rhino, which died there in March. Paula Kahumbu, the chief executive of WildlifeDirect, a conservation group in Kenya, called what happened to the black rhinos a “complete disaster.”

“Kenyans must demand an explanation and full transparency as well as reassurances that we will adopt the best practices in wildlife translocations to learn from this disaster and prevent it from ever happening again,” Ms. Kahumbu said in a Facebook post on Friday.

Workers from the Kenya Wildlife Service were scheduled to relocate 14 black rhinos from Nairobi and Lake Nakuru national parks to a sanctuary meant to aid the conservation effort, the government’s statement said. Eight of the 11 that were moved to Tsavo East National Park, which is southeast of Nairobi, died.

The government statement said the salty water most likely led to dehydration in the rhinos, which then prompted them to drink more water, exacerbating the problem. The surviving rhinos that were transported are now being given fresh water.

The 11 transports were intended to start a new population line in the sanctuary to combat the reduction of the species caused by poachers. Najib Balala, Kenya’s cabinet secretary for tourism and wildlife, wrote in a tweet on Friday that he had directed the wildlife workers to immediately suspend the transport of the remaining three rhinos.

The world’s black rhino population declined by 98 percent from 1960 to 1995, dropping to a historic low of fewer than 2,500, because of the impact of European hunters and settlers, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Conservation efforts have helped double the black rhino population since then, and it now stands at more than 5,000, which is still considered critically endangered.

Poachers hunt black rhinos for their horns, which are coveted for traditional Chinese medicinal practices and are displayed as status symbols. In Kenya, where about 80 percent of the world’s wild black rhinos live, conservationists planned to move the rhinos to the Tsavo sanctuary as part of a long-term effort to save the species from extinction by protecting them from poachers.

The government agency said that from 2005 to 2017, 149 rhinos were relocated in Kenya with only eight mortalities.

Officials plan to announce the results of forensic testing on the rhinos and have opened an independent investigation into the deaths that will be overseen by a veterinary expert from the University of Nairobi. Disciplinary action will be taken if the government finds evidence of “negligence or unprofessional misconduct” during the transport process, the statement said.

Susie Ellis, the executive director of the International Rhino Foundation, said relocating a rhino is a highly delicate process that always carries some risk. Wildlife workers must immobilize the animal, ensure it is calm in the crate so it doesn’t injure itself and then safely reverse the immobilization after the transport.

But this death toll is unrivaled on a global scale, Dr. Ellis said.

“You might lose one, you might lose two,” she said, “but losing eight is unheard-of.”