The Sweetest Farewell From His Keepers For The Last Rhino Of His Kind

On Saturday, people gathered in Kenya on a bright morning to honor someone who was really one of a kind.

Sudan, the only male northern white rhino, passed away from an age-related ailment just last month, leaving his caretakers at Ol Pejeta Conservancy to mourn his loss. Sudan had received round-the-clock care at the sanctuary for almost ten years.

Sudan was 45 years old, quite old for a rhino, and was surrounded by the people who loved him when he passed. And the team of people at the conservancy —including armed guards and guard dogs who still protect the last two northern white rhinos on Earth (Sudan’s daughter and granddaughter, Najin and Fatu) against poachers — gathered together to remember him.

They unveiled a stone memorial with Sudan’s name on it, placed under the shelter of a tree.

The conservancy said on Facebook that Sudan, the final male northern white rhino, received a befitting tribute this morning in celebration of his life and his outstanding contribution as a rhino conservation ambassador.

“Several speakers presented excellent first-person tales of their encounters with Sudan and his incredible worldwide effect on rhino conservation.”

Sudan helped people around the world understand the threats facing rhinos everywhere. Because of demand for their horn in Eastern medicine, poaching has ravaged rhino populations. It used to be that millions of rhinos roamed across Africa and Asia; it’s estimated only about 30,000 remain between all five species combined.

Ol Pejeta is working with scientists to try to use in vitro fertilization to save northern white rhinos from total extinction. A southern white rhino would be a surrogate and carry a northern white rhino embryo created in a lab from eggs harvested from Najin and Fatu, the last female northern white rhinos.

Sperm samples from now-deceased northern white rhinos are currently stored in Berlin, Germany, as a last-ditch effort to save the subspecies.

People hope that Sudan will always be remembered and that his existence will serve as a reminder of how susceptible animals are to human effects despite the fact that the destiny of the entire subspecies depends on this never-before-tried surgery in rhinos.

Sudan, fare thee well,” wrote Ol Pejeta. The onus is now on us since you have done your part to draw attention to the predicament of rhino species throughout the world.