A Kenya Wildife Service translocation team rolls a sedated female black
rhinoceros into a safe position before loading the animal into a
transport crate ahead of the ill-fated journey to the Tsavo East
sactuary. PHOTO | JAMES KAHONGEH | NMG
Only two out of the 11 black rhinos that were translocated to
the Tsavo National Park are alive, denting Kenya’s conservations
credentials, especially given that it holds 80 per cent of the
sub-species.
On Tuesday, it emerged that a ninth rhino
had died in what now becomes the world’s biggest rhino translocation
mishap as Kenyan authorities promise in-depth investigations into the
tragedy.
The country says it has invited a team of
experts from the United Kingdom and South Africa to make a comprehensive
report by end of next week, on what really caused the deaths of these
animals.
“Preliminary investigations point to salt
poisoning as the rhinos tried to adapt to saltier water in their new
home. The investigations team is being headed by senior officers from
the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Ministry of Tourism and
Wildlife, local and international experts. A comprehensive reports to be
concluded within a week,” Kenya’s Tourism and Wildlife Minister Najib
Balala said, after touring the newly established Tsavo East National
Park Rhino Sanctuary to get an update on the deaths of the black rhinos.
Something went wrong
On
Friday last week, it emerged that eight of the rhinos moved by the
Kenya Wildlife Service from the Nairobi National Park and the Nakuru
National Park died as a result of drinking saline water.
“Things did not go according to the script. The wildlife agency
had taken all the necessary precautions including their quality of water
and also housing them in a holding pen as they transitioned to their
new ecosystem. Something went wrong and given the effects of the stress
of moving, the animals felt thirsty and took saline water that was being
pumped from a borehole,” The EastAfrican was reliably told.
It
is also understood that two of the rhinos could have lost their lives
during or immediately after the move itself, while the other six are
said to have died due to salt poisoning, after drinking water with a
higher salt content on arrival in Tsavo East rhino conservancy.
Conservationists
are now calling for thorough investigations into what could have gone
wrong and whether any of the translocation safety measures were
sidestepped.
“Finding new places for rhinos to thrive
and protecting viable populations are crucial, and we understand the
Kenyan Wildlife Service’s desire to re-establish rhinos in Tsavo East.
Now that we are faced with this truly tragic situation, we must learn
from it. We call on the Kenya Wildlife Service to examine what happened
and why things went so wrong. Then steps must be taken to ensure that
this never happens again,” Save the Rhino’s chief executive officer
Cathy Dean said.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF-Kenya) chief
executive officer Mohamed Awer said in a statement that the organisation
was devastated by the news.
“Translocating wild
animals of this size is a complex, challenging undertaking and not
without risk. However, range expansion projects to increase black rhino
numbers are a recognised cornerstone of conservation efforts, meaning
translocation is crucial for future generations,” Mr Awer said in a
statement.
According to Save the Rhino, moving rhinos
from one place to another is essential to ensure genetic diversity
across the population and to re-establish populations in areas where
they had previously been poached to near extinction.
“Of
course, we must have solid plans for rhino relocations, but we must
also understand the impact of where we are moving them, and the overall
objective for the entire population. Kenya’s national rhino strategy has
a long-term vision of a total black rhino population of 2,000 animals.
Reaching this goal will only be possible if the current populations are
appropriately managed; rhinos are relocated to specific areas with a
good genetic mix that enables each park or conservancy to host a viable
breeding population,” the rhino organisation said.
Dr
Paula Kahumbu of Wild Life Direct said that the deaths of these animals
was shocking, disheartening and was a major conservation tragedy, not
just for Kenya but for all rhinos.
Global best practice
“The
translocation exercise was meant to support the successful breeding
programme of this critically endangered species of black rhino for which
Kenya holds 80 per cent of the sub-species. It is surprising because
KWS has conducted many successful large scale translocations of rhinos
before. We look forward to the outcome of the investigation and
reassurances that we will adopt global best practice in translocating
wildlife to learn from this disaster and prevent it from ever happening
again,” Dr Kahumbu said.
Rhino translocation and
immobilisation for various management purposes in Kenya has been a
success story with very low mortality rates over the years. In the last
twelve years, Kenya has undertaken 149 rhino translocations with only
eight deaths recorded.
In the last one year, 74 rhinos
have been immobilised for ear notching and only one death was recorded.
Several hundreds have also been immobilised for clinical reasons.
According
to KWS, on July 2, one of the male rhinos in the boma was observed to
be restless, taking in excessive water while lying on its side. Attempts
to make it stand proved futile as it showed signs of weakness on its
fore limbs.
“A decision was made to move it out of the
boma and place it in the shade where supportive treatment, including
intravenous fluids, was administered,” KWS said in a statement, adding
that the animal died the next day.
The agency said that
eight other rhino were also observed the next day to exhibit similar
symptoms to the first one, and died between July 5 and 7.
“Preliminary
investigations by our teams attributed the deaths to salt poisoning, as
a result of taking water of high salinity on arrival at their new
environment. These findings are consistent with cases of salt poisoning
on other species and were exemplified by the postmortem findings,” KWS
said.
Preliminary report
Mr
Balala on the other hand has reiterated that action will be taken if it
is found that the caregivers of these animals failed in their duties.
He also decried the silence that followed after the animals die noting
that this was not acceptable.
“We will definitely take
action if the preliminary report showed any failure on the part of the
vet, transportation officers, feed organisers and caregivers. We are
also happy to confirm that the two surviving rhinos are in good health.
One was seen in Maungu yesterday and the other was spotted this morning
(Tuesday) around the sanctuary that had been set up for them,” Mr Balala
said.
The interim post-mortem report is expected on
Monday, July 23, given that one of the experts called in, Prof Peter
Gathumbi, a senior veterinary pathologist at the University of Nairobi,
was at the Tsavo East conservancy on Thursday and Friday last week,
where he took the samples. Kenya will also be awaiting the report on the
sugarcane feed the animals were fed on later next week.
“Losing
nine black rhinos in a translocation is a major tragedy. Relocation of
endangered animals carries a lot of risks but loss of more than half of
them is highly unusual. We demand a thorough investigation into what
exactly transpired and the findings to be made public,” Greenpeace
Africa’s executive director, Njeri Kabeberi said.
“The
people involved in this exercise should take responsibility. This is
another major setback for conservation, happening only a few months
after the last remaining male northern white rhino died in March. The
KWS and WWF need to learn from this disaster and put in place measures
and best practices to prevent this from recurring,” Ms Kabeberi added.
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