The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) on Tuesday, January 10 announced a new sighting of a two-day-old, southern white rhino calf in Lake Nakuru National Park.
In a statement released by the wildlife service, the calf was spotted by Corporal Kirwa and Ranger Naibieo as they patrolled the Rhino Sanctuary in Lake Nakuru National Park.
“The gender of the newest addition to the square-lipped species is unknown, but its mother has been identified as the lovely, fertile Maimuna,” KWS revealed.
In a cheeky update, the conservancy, however, disclosed that they do not throw parties in the park.
“KWS does not throw parties in our wild maternity wing,
However, the service updates our records and encourages visitors to visit our parks and reserves to support our conservation mandate by adopting these endangered species for posterity,” read the statement in part.
The Acting Director General KWS Erastus Kanga commended the men and women behind these successes for achieving zero rhino poaching in 2022 and urged them to diligently maintain the record in 2023.
A national wildlife census report for between May and July 2021 by KWS shows that the country's total rhino population increased from 1,258 rhinos at the end of 2017 to 1,739 by mid-2021.
Specifically, Southern white rhinos increased from 510 to 840, and Eastern black rhinos (the only black rhino subspecies found in Kenya) increased from 745 to 897.
The increase in rhino numbers is an important achievement, especially when rhinos remain under huge threat from poaching and a lack of good, safe habitat.
On April 2022, former Tourism Cabinet Secretary(CS) Najib Balala launched the southern and northern white rhino subspecies conservation and management action plan in order to boost the recovery of the iconic species.
In his statement, the action plan was to provide a roadmap to keep rhino poaching below one per cent of the total population per annum by enhancing protection.
"The strategy is a recovery plan for the species as well as for tourism and community conservation education," the-then CS revealed.
