Eight rare rhinos die during transit in Kenya

Deaths wipe out 1pc of the country’s black rhinos in an accident described as a ‘disaster for the world’

KENYAN wildlife experts were last night demanding answers after the unprecedented deaths in transit of eight critically endangered rhinos, in an accident described as “a disaster for the world”.

Fourteen animals were being transported to a new reserve, Tsavo East, in southern Kenya from their homes in Nairobi and Lake Nakuru national parks.

Such transfers, involving the sedation and moving of the animals, are not unusual.

But with around 700 black rhinos left in the whole country, transportation is a delicate affair – and the deaths of the animals means that 1 per cent of the entire population has been wiped out in one week.

Dr Paula Kahumbu, a Kenyan wildlife conservationist and chief executive of Wildlifedirect, said it was astonishing that this could happen in Kenya, which is used to managing rhinos.

“It’s a disaster – a disaster not just for Kenya, but for the world,” she said.

“These animals have been protected for decades by rangers.

“So for them to die like this is incredibly alarming. And I’m very surprised we haven’t been told yet what happened.”

Najib Balala, Kenya’s tourism and wildlife minister, ordered the Kenya

Wildlife Service (KWS) to “immediately suspend the ongoing translocation of black rhinos following the death of eight of them”, according to a ministry statement.

The KWS has not commented on the deaths, and the loss of so many in one go is unprecedented.

Between 2005 and 2017, a total of 149 rhinos have been moved in this way, with eight deaths.

Mr Balala said that “preliminary investigations” suggested the rhinos may have died of “salt poisoning” after drinking different water in their new environment. He said that the animals likely became dehydrated and drank more salty water, in a fatal cycle.

The ministry have said that a full report is due to be produced next week, adding that “disciplinary action will definitely be taken, if the findings point towards negligence or unprofessional conduct on the part of any KWS officers”.

Dr Kahumbu said that it was vital to find out quickly what went wrong, to avoid future problems.

“Rhinos have died, we have to say it openly when it happens, not a week later or a month later,” she said.

“Something must have gone wrong, and we want to know what it is,” she added.

Save the Rhinos estimates that there are fewer than 5,500 black rhinos in the world, all of them in Africa.

According to KWS figures, nine rhinos were killed in Kenya last year by poachers.

In another major setback for conservation, the last remaining male northern white rhino on the planet died this March in Kenya, leaving conservationists struggling to save that sub-species using in vitro fertilisation.