Long-haul flight to save rare rhinos

A Czech zoo will fly four of its rare Northern White rhinos - of only eight left worldwide - to Kenya in what is billed as a last-ditch attempt to ensure survival of this majestic beast that once roamed the African savannah.

The plan, designed to enhance breeding chances, has sparked outrage among some experts who feel the transfer is too risky given the different temperatures in central Europe and Kenya.

But Dana Holeckova, director of the Dvur-Kralove zoo in central Czech Republic, is adamant. "We must offer them this last chance, in their natural environment in Africa," he said.



The huge herbivores, native to central and eastern Africa, have been decimated by poachers who want their horns, highly prized in Asia for medicinal use. Most probably, the animals have been wiped out in the wild.

Only eight Northern White rhinos - whose Latin name is Ceratotherium simum cottoni, a sub-species of the White Rhino - are known to survive worldwide, all in captivity. Six are at Dvur Kralove, a vast facility specialized in African fauna, and two live at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego, California.

The Czech rhinos, however, are the only ones who have managed to reproduce, with the last birth in 2000, a female named Fatu whom the zoo dubbed its "millennium child". The zoo, which calls the project "The Last Chance to Survive", is hoping that hormone levels of the female rhinos will get back to normal in Africa, thus improving chances for breeding.