Latest news with #rhino
Malay Mail
19 hours ago
- Health
- Malay Mail
How to move a rhino? Think dart guns, helicopters, and a whole lot of patience
NAKURU (Kenya), June 10 — Barely feeling the tranquiliser shot, the panic-stricken female rhinoceros ran to take shelter in a wooded area, eluding the low-flying helicopter trying to prevent her escape. The rhino was supposed to be transferred to another park in Kenya on Saturday, but outsmarted the humans. A few minutes later, rangers in 4x4 vehicles searched through thickets too dense for the crane truck that was meant to carry her away. A decision was quickly made to administer the antidote to the tranquilise to prevent her from collapsing. If she fell the wrong way, she could suffocate. The young female will therefore remain where she was born. 'The rhino is the worst one to translocate,' said Taru Sheldrick, who was piloting the helicopter in Nakuru National Park in northwest Kenya, an oasis of greenery surrounding a deep blue lake. 'When you dart them, if you don't have long enough, they're running straight for thick bush, which is their security,' he said. 'Whenever you're darting a rhino, you have a little bit of fear. Because it's a species in danger. Every animal is just so important.' Rhinos, which can weigh up to two tonnes, were once abundant in sub-Saharan Africa. But hunting by European colonisers and later large-scale poaching pushed them to the brink of extinction. Race against time The International Rhino Foundation (IRF) says there are about 28,000 left in the world, nearly 24,000 in Africa. Kenya is home to more than 2,000 of them. Rhinos reproduce less efficiently if too many of its kin live in the same location, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), which manages the country's parks. Moving them is therefore important, but rhinos are vulnerable to tranquilisers that slow their breathing, increase their body temperature and affect their heart rate, said Dr Dominic Mijele from KWS. So it is a race against time as soon as a veterinarian, aboard a helicopter, administers the drug using a dart gun. Five to seven minutes after injection, the rhino begins to feel groggy. Then it collapses, as AFP observed on Saturday: after the first female retreated into the bush, three other black rhinos were anaesthetised within the span of a few hours in Nakuru. A rescue team arrived on-site within two minutes of each shot, moving like a well-oiled machine. Kenya Wildlife Service veterinarians and rangers rush to restrain and aid a sedated female black Rhinoceros that has been selected for translocation to the Segera Rhino Sanctuary from the Lake Nakuru National Park. — AFP pic About a dozen caregivers surrounded the animals, spraying them with water to cool their body temperature, rolling them onto their sides to ensure their respiration was not obstructed, administering oxygen and monitoring their vital signs. Simultaneously, several other rangers secured the animals with straps threaded through the transport cage and attached to the front bumper of a jeep. Fifteen minutes after the rescue team's arrival, the antidote was administered. The animal then jolted to its feet and was promptly guided into a cage, which a crane loaded onto the flatbed of a truck. Kenya Wildlife Service veterinarians and rangers in action. — AFP pic 'Number one' Mijele boasted of Kenya's unmatched expertise. 'We are number one in the world. We have done so many rhino translocations successfully,' he said. Jochen Zeitz, the owner of the private Segera Reserve, where about 20 rhinos have been relocated in the past two weeks, could not hide his relief after the latest operation. On his 200 square kilometres of land, elephants, buffalos, lions, leopards, cheetahs and more roam freely, said the former Puma CEO and current Harley-Davidson executive. But the reserve lacked 'this iconic species' which were present up until 60 years ago in Segera, but have since disappeared. Kenya Wildlife Service veterinarians and rangers help push a truck stuck in the mud, carrying a female black rhinoceros selected for translocation from Lake Nakuru National Park to the Segera Rhino Sanctuary. — AFP pic Welcoming rhinos back is 'completing the conservation work that we've done as a foundation over the last 22 years' since acquiring the land, he told AFP. Due to the high risk of poaching for their horns, security measures had to be significantly enhanced with 100-150 new security staff, Zeitz said. Late Saturday, a small group witnessed the release of the three rhinos from Nakuru, who had arrived in Segera after a six-hour drive. In the dense night darkness, they listened as the metal bars of the transport cages were removed, doors creaked open, and heavy stomping accompanied by guttural growls rang out. The rhinos had finally arrived at their new home. — AFP
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
How to move a rhino
Barely feeling the tranquiliser shot, the panic-stricken female rhinoceros ran to take shelter in a wooded area, eluding the low-flying helicopter trying to prevent her escape. The rhino was supposed to be transferred to another park in Kenya on Saturday, but outsmarted the humans. A few minutes later, rangers in 4x4 vehicles searched through thickets too dense for the crane truck that was meant to carry her away. A decision was quickly made to administer the antidote to the tranquilise to prevent her from collapsing. If she fell the wrong way, she could suffocate. The young female will therefore remain where she was born. "The rhino is the worst one to translocate," said Taru Sheldrick, who was piloting the helicopter in Nakuru National Park in northwest Kenya, an oasis of greenery surrounding a deep blue lake. "When you dart them, if you don't have long enough, they're running straight for thick bush, which is their security," he said. "Whenever you're darting a rhino, you have a little bit of fear. Because it's a species in danger. Every animal is just so important." Rhinos, which can weigh up to two tonnes, were once abundant in sub-Saharan Africa. But hunting by European colonisers and later large-scale poaching pushed them to the brink of extinction. - Race against time - The International Rhino Foundation (IRF) says there are about 28,000 left in the world, nearly 24,000 in Africa. Kenya is home to more than 2,000 of them. Rhinos reproduce less efficiently if too many of its kin live in the same location, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), which manages the country's parks. Moving them is therefore important, but rhinos are vulnerable to tranquilisers that slow their breathing, increase their body temperature and affect their heart rate, said Dr Dominic Mijele from KWS. So it is a race against time as soon as a veterinarian, aboard a helicopter, administers the drug using a dart gun. Five to seven minutes after injection, the rhino begins to feel groggy. Then it collapses, as AFP observed on Saturday: after the first female retreated into the bush, three other black rhinos were anaesthetised within the span of a few hours in Nakuru. A rescue team arrived on-site within two minutes of each shot, moving like a well-oiled machine. About a dozen caregivers surrounded the animals, spraying them with water to cool their body temperature, rolling them onto their sides to ensure their respiration was not obstructed, administering oxygen and monitoring their vital signs. Simultaneously, several other rangers secured the animals with straps threaded through the transport cage and attached to the front bumper of a jeep. Fifteen minutes after the rescue team's arrival, the antidote was administered. The animal then jolted to its feet and was promptly guided into a cage, which a crane loaded onto the flatbed of a truck. - 'Number one' - Mijele boasted of Kenya's unmatched expertise. "We are number one in the world. We have done so many rhino translocations successfully," he said. Jochen Zeitz, the owner of the private Segera Reserve, where about 20 rhinos have been relocated in the past two weeks, could not hide his relief after the latest operation. On his 200 square kilometres of land, elephants, buffalos, lions, leopards, cheetahs and more roam freely, said the former Puma CEO and current Harley-Davidson executive. But the reserve lacked "this iconic species" which were present up until 60 years ago in Segera, but have since disappeared. Welcoming rhinos back is "completing the conservation work that we've done as a foundation over the last 22 years" since acquiring the land, he told AFP. Due to the high risk of poaching for their horns, security measures had to be significantly enhanced with 100-150 new security staff, Zeitz said. Late Saturday, a small group witnessed the release of the three rhinos from Nakuru, who had arrived in Segera after a six-hour drive. In the dense night darkness, they listened as the metal bars of the transport cages were removed, doors creaked open, and heavy stomping accompanied by guttural growls rang out. The rhinos had finally arrived at their new home. jf/er/cw
BBC News
29-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Cells from dead rhino could bring new life, says Shropshire charity
A skin sample from a rhino could bring the promise of new life thanks to the work of a wildlife charity, four years after the rhino's 40-year-old southern white rhino from Whipsnade Zoo died in October 2021, with vets teaming up with three specialist groups to collect tissue samples from the dead Shropshire-based charity Nature's SAFE has created "millions" of new living cells from the sample. It believes this is the first time this has happened in the charity, based in Whitchurch, said it was the first stage in an innovative process that could allow scientists to develop new egg or sperm cells from this rhino. It would enable the rhino to contribute to the breeding population of southern white rhino for years into the future, despite her having died in SAFE preserved a skin sample from the rhino's ear while it was still in a living state, with the charity banking its hope upon the cells remaining alive while preserved at -196C, so that when thawed out in the future, they could be revived and cultured to create fresh cell lines.A spokesperson for the charity said: "Although it may sound like science fiction, this technology is already developed in mice, demonstrating its potential to assist reproduction in other animal species too." In April, the cells were carefully removed from the liquid nitrogen storage tanks and four years after the rhino's death, the team have successfully cultured these and have grown new cell Morgan, the lab technician behind this success, said: "These cells represent living DNA from this rhino that is readily available for conservation use even though the rhino itself is deceased." Nature's SAFE, described as a "bio bank", has now stored biological samples from 300 species, including 37 which are critically endangered and four which are extinct in the ambition is to save animals from extinction by protecting the genetic diversity of wild animal species and supporting technologies, like artificial insemination and in-vitro fertilisation, to maintain and restore healthy animal populations. Debbie Rolmanis, chief operations officer, said: "By preserving and cultivating skin cells from threatened species, we are building a living library of genetic material that can be used to help restore genetic diversity to declining animal populations and prevent extinction. "The key benefit of utilising skin cells is that we can obtain them easily and continue to regenerate them indefinitely; they are not a finite resource. This provides a powerful, proven way to protect DNA within a functional cell." Commenting on the reanimation of the rhino's cells, Tullis Matson, founder and chair of the charity, said: "This could be an absolute game-changer moving forward. Now we've proven that this rhino's cells are truly in a living state even though she passed away almost four years ago. "This is a powerful tool for protecting many more of our critically endangered species; animals like the mountain chicken frog or Lake Patzcuaro salamander, which otherwise might have fallen into extinction, could be saved using these new bio-banking technologies. "We are over the moon - this brings hope not just to the southern white rhino, but to any species on the brink!" Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Human statues in Bolivia and flowers at Chelsea – photos of the day: Monday
Lewa Wildlife Conservancy rangers prepare to handle tranquillised Quintus, a 3-year-old male white rhino, while carrying out a rhino ear-notching exercise on 40 sub-adult rhinos without existing marks. The work is aimed at improving individual identification and long-term monitoring of the species Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters Children play in the waves on the Yemeni island of Socotra Photograph: Annika Hammerschlag/AP Containers stacked at a port Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Security personnel stand guard as Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate for South Korea's Democratic party, arrives for an election campaign rally Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters Men dressed as human statues take part in a parade during the Long Night of Museums Photograph: Juan Carlos Torrejon/EPA Chelsea pensioner Peter Wilson poses with a floral installation of a punk sporting a mohawk hairstyle, made of pampas grass, tropical blooms and preserved leaves by Ricky Paul Flowers at the Chelsea Flower Show Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA Prime minister Keir Starmer and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen smile as they pose with European Council president António Costa, ahead of the UK-EU Summit at Lancaster House Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters Pope Leo XIV meets with US vice-president JD Vance at the Vatican Photograph: Simone Risoluti/Reuters A Thai air force officer adjusts the cap of a member of an honour guard in preparation for the arrival of Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto at the Government House Photograph: Sakchai Lalit/AP
