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Latest news in Yorkshire: December 05, 2018 02:56:25 PM
A special arrival at the award-winning Yorkshire Wildlife Park could be
a huge breakthrough in the battle to save critically endangered black
rhinos.
Two-year-old Najuma will play a pivotal role in an ambitious
international breeding programme to help the species recover from the
brink of extinction.
The female black rhino, who was transferred from a German zoo, arrived
yesterday [December 4] at the park after a 600 mile-long journey by road
and ferry.
When she is old enough Najuma will be paired with three-year-old Makibo
at the Into Africa reserve in the hope she can give birth to calves that
will eventually be reintroduced into the wild.
The European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA) is co-ordinating a
breeding programme that will generate the largest ever move of rhinos
from Europe to Rwanda and will be accompanied by a comprehensive
education, research and protection campaign.
“It was amazing to welcome Najuma and start settling her into the house.
Hopefully in the future she will breed with Makibo, their offspring
could be crucial to the future of the black rhino,” said Simon Marsh,
Animal Collections Manager of the park at Branton, near Doncaster.
“With the zoo community working together, the idea is to breed black
rhinos and to strategically introduce them into the wild to help save
the species. We hope to play a part in this comprehensive programme in
the future which demonstrates our commitment and the collaboration
between European zoos and the Rwanda government to save the species.”
Black rhino numbers have been devastated by poaching and habitat loss
and plunged to 2,300 before recent efforts helped the total to recover
slightly to 5,000.
The first captive-born black rhinos will be re-introduced into the
Akagera National Park, a 1,222 sq km haven for wildlife near the borders
with Tanzania, during 2019.
“There could be no better demonstration of the commitment of
conservationists across two continents to the survival of rhinos than an
action like this. We cannot stand idly by and allow this magnificent
creature to be wiped off the face of the earth,” said EAZA Chair Thomas
Kauffels.
YWP welcomed black rhinos Jasper and Makibo in March 2018 when the
park’s previous black rhino Hodari and Dayo moved to the Netherlands as
part of the programme.
The Yorkshire Wildlife Park Foundation funds anti-poaching patrols to
protect rhinos in the wild and also supports facilities which care for
orphaned rhino calves after their mothers have been tragically killed by
poachers for their horn.
The Foundation was founded in 2013 as a dynamic catalyst for inspiring
people to support conservation and welfare.
The Foundation also works with leading conservation organisations around
the world to create better prospects for other endangered animals such
as Amur tigers, Amur leopards, polar bears, and giraffes.
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News source: rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk