Crowd-Raising Campaign Launched To Raise Money for IVF Techniques for Northern White Rhinos

Date: 19.08.2015

Ol Pejeta Conservancy and Dvůr Králové Zoo launch a joint Go Fund Me campaign to #makearhino: www.gofundme.com/makearhino

The team aims to raise ?0.5m ($0.8m) to develop the IVF techniques needed for a new generation of northern white rhino to be born.

Tuesday, August 18th, 2015
For Immediate Release

Ol Pejeta Conservancy
Elodie Sampere, +254 / 727 341 612
elodie.sampere@olpejetaconservancy.org

Dvůr Králové Zoo
Jan Stejskal, +420 608 009 072
jan.stejskal@zoodvurkralove.cz

(Nanyuki - Kenya) – The recent death of a northern white rhino in Dvůr Králové Zoo, Czech Republic has left just four of this subspecies in existence – three females and one male. None are capable of natural reproduction, and the extinction of the northern white rhino is a very real and very imminent probability – unless a technique for rhino IVF and embryo transfer can be funded, developed, tested and implemented in time.

Three of the last northern white rhino (including the last male northern white in existence) reside in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, who are partnering with Dvůr Králové Zoo and other organisations to try and develop a way to safely remove egg cells from remaining females, fertilize these with semen collected from northern white males, and use a female southern white rhino as a surrogate. This has never been done before, and does not come without risks. What’s more, if the remaining females die before this method has been developed, one of the last chances to save the northern white rhinos will vanish.

The estimated cost of IVF and embryo transfer – from the development of the method, to trials and implantation is estimated at approximately ?0.5m ($0.8m). Yet this is the only hope for preserving an entire subspecies.

Ol Pejeta and Dvůr Králové Zoo have launched a GºFundMe campaign entitled ‘Make a Rhino’ to try and raise the money needed to save the northern white rhino before it’s too late. All funds raised on the online platform go directly to the IVF initiative, and they are appealing to supporters around the globe to donate to the cause. www.gofundme.com/makearhino

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About Ol Pejeta Conservancy
Ol Pejeta Conservancy occupies approximately 360 square kilometers of African savannah within the Laikipia District of Kenya and incorporates the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Laikipia carries large and growing wildlife populations and is home to almost 50% of Kenya's black rhino population. The Ol Pejeta Conservancy works to conserve wildlife, provide a sanctuary for great apes and to generate income through wildlife tourism and complementary enterprise for reinvestment in conservation and community development. www.olpejetaconservancy.org

About Dvůr Králové Zoo
Dvůr Králové Zoo, Czech Republic, is the only animal park where the northern white rhino has ever bred in captivity (four calves). Also, 41 eastern black rhinos have been born in the zoo along with over 260 giraffes, 800 zebras and 4,500 antelopes. Visitors to the zoo are attracted by its large collection of African animals, safari with lions and ungulates, and by great emphasis on African culture and wildlife conservation. The zoo shipped three black rhinos to Tanzania in 2009 and collaborated with its partners to transfer four northern white rhinos from Dvur Kralove to Ol Pejeta Conservancy in hope to prompt their breeding. www.zoodvurkralove.cz