In a welcome counterpoint to decades of bad news, a recent report indicates that the rhino population appears to be growing in at least one national park in Kenya. The Kenya Wildlife Service reported in June that the rhino herd at the Lake Nakuru rhino sanctuary has grown in the past 12 years from 41 introduced animals to a total of 71. While the numbers sound small, they are significant within the shrinking world population, and they are an encouraging indication that some rhino conservation efforts are paying off.
Rhino populations appear to be stablizing in some parts of Africa.
Kenya s efforts to protect the rhino began in the mid-1980s, after years of poaching caused the country s rhino population to collapse from 20,000 in 1970 to just 400 animals in 1983. In 1984 Kenya started a national Save the Rhino program, and Kenya s President Moi gave the animals special protected status in the country. Three years later the Kenya Wildlife Service established the rhino sanctuary at Lake Nakuru and brought 20 animals there. Another 21 animals were later donated from South Africa. The rhino herd includes black rhinos and white rhinos, both internationally recognized as endangered.