One Year On: How Ol Pejeta Conservancy reflects on a species facing extinction

Ol Pejeta Conservancy has asked Kenyans to caption a picture of a rhino and win a free entry into the northern white rhino enclosure.

This is a way to celebrate the memorial of Sudan, the last male northern white rhino that died last year on March 19.

“In honour of Sudan, we are requesting you to caption this photo! Send in a funny, catchy caption by Thursday 10 am,” the conservancy said.

Winners will get free entry into the enclosure to celebrate Sudan’s memorial on March 22.

View image on Twitter

Even as the conservancy posted the pictures, Kenyans had already begun posting the caption of the picture.

Wildlife direct which is a charitable organisation funded by conservationists also posted on their social media about the memorial of the rhino.

“Today, March 19, remains etched in our minds and hearts as the day we lost the last known male northern white rhino,” they noted.

“Sudan’s passing is a harsh reality of the rate with which we are losing critically endangered species.”

Sudan died in Kenya at the age of 45, after becoming a symbol of efforts to save his subspecies from extinction, a fate that only science can now prevent.

At his death, there are only two females remaining alive and the hope that in-vitro fertilisation techniques will advance enough to preserve the sub-species.

Sudan, elderly by rhino standards, had been ailing for some time, suffering from age-related infections, according to his keepers at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

The other male rhino, Suni, died of natural causes in October 2014.

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