Incredibly sad news out of Kenya. The last male white rhino has died. Sudan, who was 45 years old, was suffering horribly from a painful degenerative illness when he was euthanized March 19, 2018. Rhino numbers collapsed after poachers hunted and killed them for their horns. The horns are used to make trinkets and are also believed to have medicinal value, a deadly superstition among Asian culture.
The Guardian reports:
In order to try to preserve the species, genetic material was collected from Sudan before he was euthanised and the conservation park hopes that, through “advanced cellular technologies” and IVF, his death will not signal the end of the species altogether.
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“He was a gentle giant, his personality was just amazing and given his size, a lot of people were afraid of him. But there was nothing mean about him,” said Elodie Sampere, a representative for Ol Pejeta.
The veterinary team said they had euthanised Sudan after his condition worsened over the weekend, leaving him with bad skin wounds. The rhino was unable to stand and was visibly suffering.
“We on Ol Pejeta are all saddened by Sudan’s death,” said Richard Vigne, Ol Pejeta’s CEO. “He was a great ambassador for his species and will be remembered for the work he did to raise awareness globally of the plight facing not only rhinos, but also the many thousands of other species facing extinction as a result of unsustainable human activity. One day, his demise will hopefully be seen as a seminal moment for conservationists world wide.”
The hope for continuing the species lies in artificially inseminating one of the two remaining female white rhinos, Najin and her daughter Fatu.
x xYouTube VideoHelping Rhinos wrote an obituary for Sudan
Sudan was no ordinary rhino, he was the last male northern white rhino, and without doubt the most famous rhino in the world. His death on 19th March 2018 came after Sudan had been treated for age-related health issues and for a series of infections. His condition worsened significantly in the 24 hours before his death; he was unable to stand up and was suffering a great deal. The veterinarian team from the Dvur Králové Zoo, Ol Pejeta and Kenya Wildlife Service made the decision to euthanize him to ensure he did not suffer unnecessarily. Sudan's passing has been met with an emotional outpouring from far more than those who spent time caring for this gentle giant.
At the age of 45 Sudan was a very old man, well over 100 years old in human equivalent years. The reality is Sudan passed away of old age and not at the hands of poachers or as a result of man's actions, in fact quite the opposite. The love and attention Sudan received from his caregivers at Ol Pejeta Conservancy undoubtedly prolonged his life by a number of years. Sudan's death is one we should wish for all rhinos - a natural death and not one resulting from a bloody mess of a face where his horn once stood so proudly.
Sudan was a global superstar, even listed as 'the most eligible bachelor' on the dating app Tinder, and as with all superstars he will be mourned. There will be anger that the last of his breed is no more, our anger should not however be at the death of Sudan, but for what his death represents. That the actions of humans have resulted in the near extinction of a species that once roamed this planet with the dinosaurs!
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