KWS successfully translocates white rhino from Maasai Mara to Nairobi National Park

[ [Latest News] ] [ View Archives ]

A KWS Veterinary officer oversees the release of a white rhino in Nairobi National Park from Maasai Mara National Reserve.

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) on Tuesday May 3, 2011, successfully carried out a translocation exercise involving a white rhino from the Maasai Mara to the Nairobi National Park (NNP).
The 16-year old male rhino which previously lived at a private ranch in Ol Choro Roua area in the Mara had been frequently crossing over to the communities in the area further increasing the dangers to its life.
KWS Southern Conservation Area Assistant Director, Mr. Wilson Korir, said that the move was taken to protect the fairly active rhino and provide it with a safe and secure habitat.

The white rhino will join 11 others currently living at the park that were brought in last year from Lake Nakuru National Park in a similar exercise.
The translocation will enhance and increase the genetic breeding structure of the current rhino population at the park.
This move will also likely improve the NNP’s visitor value as the white rhino is generally a grazer and can easily be spotted feeding by tourists visiting the park.
Nairobi National Park is one of Kenya’s most successful rhino breeding sanctuaries providing a natural home for the white rhino and a high population density of the black rhino.