Ceratotherium simum cottoni, aka the Northern white rhinoceros, is a subspecies of the white rhinoceros that is possibly extinct in the wild, but still critically endangered. According to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy website, the Northern white rhinos usually ranged over parts of the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Uganda, but years of widespread poaching and civil war in their home range have devastated their population. According to National Geographic, their numbers declined precipitously from more than 2,000 in 1960 to only 15 individuals by 1984. On December 20, 2009, four of the remaining seven, Fatu, Najin, Sudan, and Suni, were brought to Ol Pejeta Conservancy from Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic. But with the other seven gone, including Suni from Ol Pejeta on October 2014 by natural causes, Nabire from Dvur Kralove Zoo on July 2015 and Nola from San Diego Zoo on November 2015 after a series of illnesses, there are now three of them left in the world and they are now protected by Ol Pejeta's 24/7 safeguard security. Despite there being two females and one male left at Ol Pejeta, when they are considered too old to reproduce, their future will bleak, but all hope is not lost. There are people who are trying to help Sudan breed, including the vet checks who are concluding artificially assisted reproduction, which is their last ray of hope for the Northern white rhinos. Ol Pejeta Conservancy has partnered with Dvur Kralove Zoo to raise USD $1 million with a GoFundMe campaign called 'Make A Rhino'. There is also a boy named Frankie who is on a mission to raise $65,000 just to save the last three rhinos from extinction, that is the cost of a rhino horn on the black market. You can look that up on a video "Boy Raises Money to Save Rhinos" at
youtube.com/thedodo.
But there are many ways we can do to help...
1. Support the Ol Pejeta Conservancy website
2. Help Frankie save rhinos by visiting thedo.do/rhinosup
3. Donate to the 'Make A Rhino' campaign at gofundme.com/makearhino or
4. Donate to the Save the Rhinos website or any other conservation site
If we don't act now, it can be too late for the Northern white rhinos. It's all up to us. Please support this blog or donate to save the last three right now.
Sudan with his keeper Mutai
Nastasya Tay
After a series of illnesses, Nola, a rare Northern white rhino, had to be euthanized at San Diego Zoo in December 2014. She was 41 years old.
Lenny Ignelzi, Associated Press
Sudan, the last surviving male Northern white rhino
Credit: Rachel Nuwer
Najin, a female Northern white rhino at Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Photograph: Sun Ruibo/Xinhua Press/Corbis
