Ministry permits rhinos' transport from Czech zoo to Africa

The rhinos will fly to Kenya on December 19. They should find a new home in the Kenyan Ol Pejeta Conservancy reserve.

The zoo representatives will take over the permit at the ministry this afternoon, Roubickova added.

Zoo director Dana Holeckova said the CITES permit was the last obstacle to the rhinos' transport. Not even the current severe frosts will prevent it as the body of the lorries for the animals' transport will be heated, she added.

The Safari Archa 2007 civic association stands up against the rhinos' transport calling it nonsensical. It plans to stage a protest meeting in Hradec Kralove, east Bohemia, on December 16.

The rhinos' transport has been planned for over one year as an attempt at salvation of this rare species.

Only a few last northern white rhinos are living in the wild. Last time three were allegedly seen in Sudan in 2008.

Apart from six northern white rhinos in the Dvur Kralove zoo, a male and a female of this species are kept in captivity in the zoo in San Diego, the United States.

Zoologists say they believe that the hormonal level of the female white rhinos might stabilise and they could get pregnant, in which the zoo in Dvur Kralove has not succeeded.

The Dvur Kralove zoo has been successful in breeding other rhino species. Last week a female calf of the black rhinoceros with two horns was born in the zoo that is breeding a total of 25 various rhino species.

Autor: ČTK
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