Rhino IVF is crazy, says BBC naturalist

♦ An initiative to reproduce the functionally extinct northern white rhinoceros in test tubes is “madness”, a leading BBC wildlife presenter has said.

Michaela Strachan, who presents Springwatch and Countryfile, argued that the planet is too overcrowded to bring animals back from extinction and that money should be spent on animals “we can save now”.

There are currently only two female northern white rhinos in the world after the last surviving male, a 43-yearold named Sudan, died in March.

Immediately after his death, scientists extracted and froze his sperm to use in “artificial reproductive techniques” such as IVF and recently announced the initiative, which is estimated to cost around $9million (£6.7million), has been successful.

However Strachan told Michael Ball on BBC Radio 2 that she disagreed with the procedure, saying: “I think it’s crazy. I think we should definitely put our money into things that we can save and environments that we can save. I think it’s absolute madness.”