WHITE RHINO- Species Spotlight

The Rhino is one Africa's Big Five.
The white rhino is the largest of the remaining 5 species of rhinoceros.
They are divided into the southern and northern white rhinos. It is thought the northern rhino is extinct in the wild due to poaching, and only a handful remain in captivity.
Some research shows the southern wild population numbers around 11,000, but the IUCN red list list shows over 17,000.
At any rate, even though the white rhino has the largest numbers of any of the rhino species, it still is endangered and needs our help.
(On a side note-the IUCN recently took the Asian greater one horned rhino of the endangered red list, but I along with others feel it is still needs the protection given by that status)
There are over 700 white rhinos in captivity world wide. The rhino is one of the few larger animals that can be introduced into the wild. Meaning a captive born white or black rhino could make its way to Africa. Recently in October 2008, a white rhino was born via artificial insemination at the Budapest Zoo.
Even with protection they can still be legally trophy hunted in areas of South Africa. I find this to be counter productive with all the time and money going into increasing their numbers. I think we have to get it into our mind set that ALL rhinos need not to be killed. *They can also be green hunted in which a tranquilizer gun is used to and the hunter gets a picture next to their "kill." These are less expensive, but not as popular as a regular hunt.
The rhino horn is still found on the billion dollar animal black market which is driven mostly by China and the US.
Please visit the following web sites for ways you can help save the rhino.

http://www.savetherhino.org

http://www.sosrhino.org

http://www.rhinos-irf.org

*All footage taken by me at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya, Africa
(A great place for rhinos!)
http://www.lewa.org