On December 15, 2014, the San Diego Union Tribune (
visit link) ran the following story:
"RARE WHITE RHINO DIES AT SAFARI PARK
Animal was one of only six left from the species
By Ricky Young5:05 A.M.DEC. 15, 2014
ESCONDIDO — A northern white rhino that was one of six left in the world died Sunday at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, leaving only five.
Angalifu, estimated to be 44 years old, was under treatment for a number of age-related issues. The male rhino came to the park in August 1990 from the Khartoum Zoo in Sudan.
Remaining members of the species are an elderly female at the Safari Park, a female at a Czech zoo and two females and one male in Africa. There were four rhinos in Africa until October, when one died. Those rhinos, two mating pairs, were taken there from the Czech zoo in the hopes they would mate better in the wild than in captivity.
San Diego Zoo also tried to mate Angalifu, at one point sawing off the horns of female rhinos to keep them from fending him off. The animals never reproduced, but the zoo has preserved semen and testicular tissues for future use, if possible.
“Angalifu’s death is a tremendous loss to all of us,” Safari Park curator Randy Rieches said in a statement. “Not only because he was well-beloved here at the park but also because his death brings this wonderful species one step closer to extinction.”
The zoo said the near-extinction of the species is a result of poaching in Africa. The horns are valued as dagger handles and are mistakenly seen as an aphrodisiac.
“More than two decades ago we started working with the species here at the Safari Park,” Barbara Durrant of the San Diego Zoo Institute of Conservation Research said in a statement. “Unfortunately we only had three rhinos here at the park and they were all of an advanced age. We were not able to get them to breed and we have been sadly watching their species being exterminated in the wild.”
ricky.young@utsandiego.com (619) 293-1359 • Twitter: RickyWhy"