The northern white rhino has all but vanished, with only two females left alive. It is classified as near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The southern white rhino, one of two subspecies of white rhino, is now considered endangered with only about 20,000 individuals remaining, according to the World Wildlife Fund. To protect the species, park rangers at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, in Kenya, have taken serious measures to protect Sudan, the last male Northern White. In 2018, four out of six relocated black rhinos died a few months after arriving in Chad. By Sara Spary, CNN Published 12:16 PM EDT, Fri OctoLink Copied Najin, a 32-year-old northern white rhino, has been retired from a breeding program aimed at saving the species. Wildlife transfers are not without risks. "This will provide an opportunity for them to grow in a safe environment from South Africa where three are killed per day by poachers," said the park's regional manager Jes Gruner. Later they will be allowed to roam the expansive park, authorities said. The northern white rhino is in such danger of extinction that armed guards protect Fatu.
The animals were transported in a chartered Boeing 747 and were placed in two grassy enclosures - each the size of a soccer stadium - after arriving in the park. A conservancy is a special wildlife park designed to keep animals safe. "We had to tranquilize them to reduce their stress, which is itself risky, and monitor them," said African Parks' CEO Peter Fearnhead, calling the project a success. The 45-year-old male rhino had been living under armed guard at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Formerly found in several countries in East and Central Africa south of the Sahara, this subspecies is a grazer in grasslands and savanna woodlands. The rhinos began their 40-hour journey to the new home in Akagera National Park in eastern Rwanda following months of preparation, said African Parks, a charity headed by Britain's Prince Harry which is involved in the exercise. The northern white rhinoceros or northern white rhino ( Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is one of two subspecies of the white rhinoceros (the other being the southern white rhinoceros ). Once plentiful across sub-Saharan Africa, white rhino suffered first from hunting by European settlers, and later a poaching epidemic which largely wiped them out. The majestic animals, which can weigh up to two tons, traveled some 3,400 kilometers from South Africa's Phinda Private Game Reserve as part of a program to replenish the species' population, decimated by poaching since the 1970s. File photo shows guards stand near the female northern white rhino called Najin inside an open enclosure at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Nanyuki, Kenya, April 17, 2015.(Photo: Xinhua)Thirty endangered white rhinos arrived in Rwanda on Monday after a long journey from South Africa in a Boeing 747, conservationists said, hailing it as the largest single transfer of the species ever undertaken.
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