Conservationists move to save the nothern white Rhino

At 43, Sudan is old and frail, and conservationists are in a race against time to try and save the species from extinction.

Sudan is considered the only remaining male northern white rhino on whose broad shoulders the hope of saving a critical species rests.

Conservationists have carried out procedures in an attempt to extract semen from Sudan to try and reverse the detrimental effects of poaching.

Sudan was transferred to the expansive Ol Pejeta conservancy, a safe haven, from a zoo in Czech Republic in 2009 with another male, Suni, who died last year of natural causes and two females, in the hope that they would breed in a natural environment.

“His hind legs are weak he can’t mount a female, that is why we are attempting artificial methods,” said Twickenham.

A special team of veterinarians from the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Germany, South Africa and Kenya have moved to extract sperm from Sudan, a procedure that has never been undertaken on rhinos before.

“We used a hot towel, to try and make it ejaculate, we never used the electric one because he is too old,” Twickenham.

The outcome of the delicate and expensive procedure that cost about Sh10 million, which had attracted the world’s attention, was just the first step in a journey of a thousand miles.

“It was not successful, but we shall keep on trying,” said Gakuya.

Sudan, is the face of a crisis of extinction largely of the making of poachers.

From 1960 to 1980 the population of northern white rhinos, formerly found in several countries in East and Central Africa south of the Sahara plummeted from 2,000 to only 15.

Today, only four northern white rhinos remain: the three at Ol Pejeta and one that lives in San Diego zoo’s Safari Park in California, in the US.

“To all Kenyans, we need to conserve our wildlife not just for us but also for future generations,” Gakuya.

Sudan is now under 24-hour surveillance, with his horns clipped to dissuade poachers, alongside his two female counterparts with a special caregiver.