Fifth Endangered White Rhino Born in Uganda Africa

12-Jan-2012

Another baby Rhino has been born at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary bringing the number of the formerly extinct
white rhino born on Ugandan soil in less than five years to five.

The birth of the yet to be named female rhino on Tuesday, comes just months after the most recent birth of the calf Malaika on July 2, 2011.
Angie Genade, the executive Director of the Rhino Fund Uganda, says this is a feather in the hat for the country’s conservations society
as Uganda is the only country worldwide making such progress in rhino conservation.

“It is great that while the rest of the world can only report negative things about the rhino, Uganda is
celebrating with Zero poaching and a steady birth rate,” she says.

The white rhino is an endangered species and had been poached to extinction in Uganda as early as 1983.
Because rhino horn, which is believed to have medicinal properties, fetches a huge price on the global market,
poaching is still a huge problem for countries with rhino populations.

South Africa alone lost 443 rhinos to poaching in 2011. So far, there are three adult males, three juvenile males,
three adult females and two baby females living in wild conditions at the 7,000-hectare sanctuary, 175 kilometres on the Gulu-Kampala highway.
However, most of them were from Kenya and the Disney Animal Kingdom in Florida, USA.

The plan, according to Ms Genade, is to grow the numbers to eventually re-introduce the White Rhino in national parks all
over the country but still maintain a reserve heard of about 20 at the sanctuary to avoid another extinction disaster.