The ‘friendliest rhino in Africa’ killed by poachers
Rhino in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya
Back in October 2009 we blogged about a new BBC travel series, Last Chance to See, in which Stephen Fry and fellow presenter, Mark Carwardine, globe trotted the world in search of creatures which were on the verge of extinction.
One of the programmes visited the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, to see a white rhino named Max. The highlight came when Fry was tricked into believing by Carwardin that Max was incredibly dangerous, but of course he wasn’t as he had in fact been hand-reared. Sadly, however, I saw in an article this week that Max has been killed by poachers; no doubt their work made much easier by his trust in humans.
Unfortunately, poaching in many parts of Africa is still a huge problem with rhino horn being particularly sought after in China for medicines, although of course it has no medicinal value whatsoever.
If you would like to help fight rhino poaching you can visit the following:
- Save the Rhino (www.savetherhino.org/)
- David Shepherd Foundation (www.davidshepherd.org)
- Ol Pejeta Conservancy (www.olpejetaconservancy.org)
