Garamba National Park - Current Situation of The White Rhino

Current Situation of The White Rhino

Despite the best efforts of dedicated conservationists, it has been predicted that the northern white rhinos will be declared extinct relatively soon. While poaching is automatically pointed to as the direct cause, the volatile political situation in the area is the main reason such poaching has been allowed to flourish. Efforts to provide protection to the Rhinos and other protected animals have been undermined, and plans to transition the rhino to havens in Kenya have been stymied. The Congolese have even referred to Western conservationists as “modern- day poachers.” They maintain that the white rhino is their symbol of “national pride” and that outsiders have no right to take away their symbol. Yet, the government continues to do very little to keep the “symbol” alive in the park. In fact, the main reason the Rhino has remained in existence for so long is due to international efforts, but these have recently collapsed and now the rhino bodyguards have no support. Now it seems the current trend is harassing any ranger who is brought in to protect the park; whether the ranger is African or foreign seems to make no difference to the poachers, who are often those involved in the Sudanese conflicts. A mere four individuals were recorded in an aerial survey of the park in 2005 - a solo male, and a group of a male and two females. Summarily no confirmed sightings have been recorded since 2006, and given the continual civil unrest in the area, these four are now presumed dead, spelling the extinction of this subspecies in the wild.