A rare white rhino in Kenya with own armed bodyguards

New Delhi: An extremely rare white rhino, of which there are only four left in the entire world, in the Kenyan Ol Pejeta reservation, roams about the plains flanked by armed bodyguards. The four men are ‘one' with the rhino, who allows the guards to sit next to him while he eats or takes a rest and who see to it poachers don't kill the precious animal. The Kenyan reservation took this dramatic step to ensure the survival of the almost extinct specie, after 4 of the then 8 remaining white rhinos were killed in December 2009. The remaining four rhinos are the only hope the Ol Pejeta reservation (and the world) has for these rare animals to survive. 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.