And Then There Were Three
Date: 24.11.2015
Nola, a female northern white rhino in San Diego Zoo, died aged 41 on Sunday 22nd November. This leaves just three remaining on the planet; all of them live in Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya. The future of this species now lies in the development of in vitro fertilisation techniques and stem cell technology, costly and complicated procedures that have never before been attempted in rhinos. Dvur Kralove Zoo is together with Ol Pejeta Conservancy trying to raise USD 1 million towards this with a Gofundme campaign called ‘Make a Rhino’.
Nola was transferred from Dvur Kralove Zoo to San Diego in 1989. A statement from San Diego Zoo said: “Nola was under veterinary care for a bacterial infection, as well as age-related health issues. In the last 24 hours, her condition worsened and we made the difficult decision to euthanize her. We are absolutely devastated by this loss, but resolved to fight even harder to end extinction.”
Her death leaves two females and one male in Ol Pejeta Conservancy. The animals were moved to Kenya from Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic in 2009, along with one other northern white rhino. It was hoped that more natural conditions would encourage mating, but as several fruitless years passed, staff at Ol Pejeta were forced to explore alternatives. In 2014, a male southern white rhino was introduced to the two female northern whites. It was hoped that if breeding were successful, the hybrid offspring would at least conserve some of the northern white genes. Again, this proved unsuccessful. Tests later revealed that neither of the females is capable of natural reproduction.
Unless a technique for rhino IVF or stem cell technology can be funded, developed, tested and implemented, the northern white rhino will become extinct. Team of experts led by IZW Berlin has been cooperating with Dvur Kralove and Ol Pejeta on this already.
The ‘Make a Rhino’ campaign on Gofundme aims to raise funds to assist in the research necessary to save the species. Both Dvur Kralove Zoo and Ol Pejeta Conservancy are appealing to people all over the world to help. “We wouldn’t be asking people to donate if we didn’t truly believe that there was one last ray of hope for saving the northern white rhino” says Ol Pejeta CEO Richard Vigne. “It is by no means straightforward, but saving a subspecies from extinction in an age where science is capable of so many extraordinary things - I believe it can be done. All we need is for citizens around the world to club together to save the northern white rhino for future generations”.
„Death of Nola is really bad news. With every dead individual, human responsibility for saving this critically endangered species is deepening,“ added Přemysl Rabas, director of Dvůr Králové Zoo.
All funds raised on our Gofundme page, gofundme.com/makearhino, go directly to the IVF initiative.
