Birthday Boy
Keepers at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park near Ashford helped Inkosi, the youngest black rhino at the park, celebrate his first birthday yesterday. To celebrate his special day Keepers teamed up with local Filmers Bakery, Aldington, to treat Inkosi to a special rhino-friendly birthday cake in the shape of a carrot.
Head of Rhino Section Paul Beer said: ‘Inkosi is a favourite with the keepers and visitors here at the park, everyone finds him irresistible. Now that he is getting older the typical black rhino traits are starting to come through and he has started testing how far and fast he can charge!’
Black rhinos are critically endangered in the wild, as the price of rhino horn soars so does the increase in poaching in the area. Rhino horn is worth more than gold due to demand in certain countries, where it is believed that it has medicinal properties – some Asian countries even believe that it is a cure for cancer.
Adrian Harland, Animal Director at Port Lympne said: ‘Rhino horn is actually keratin, the same substance that makes human fingernails and hair, there are no proven medical properties in this substance certainly none that are linked to a cure for cancer – if there were we would all be chewing our hair and nails!’
Poaching over the last three generations has had a dramatic effect on all rhino populations in the wild and numbers have declined by approximately 90%. It is estimated that only around 3500 black rhino remaining in their natural habitat.
Adrian commented: ‘It’s a sad fact that the black rhino is critically endangered. The Aspinall Foundation along with other organisations is working hard to protect this species. Changing attitudes and mind sets is key to ensuring the survival of these impressive animals, this takes time – I’m concerned that time is running out.’
The Aspinall Foundation, working in conjunction with the wild animal parks in Kent, has successfully bred an astounding 32 calves to date and have returned five of these back to protected areas of the wild in Africa.
From this year the foundation will be looking into returning more of these animals to their natural habitat as part of an ongoing effort to ensure the survival of the species.
