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THE BAJA POST
NEWSROOM
SOURCE: PR NEWSMEDIA
Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch (NBWR) welcomed the birth of a male southern white rhino named Rudy, born to parents Gertie and Kutu on September 2, 2024. Rudy is a half-sister to female southern white rhino Truda born at NBWR in November 2023. Two rhino births within a year mark a critical success in the ongoing conservation efforts to protect this vulnerable species.
«Rudy, with his energetic and playful demeanor, is a symbol of hope for the preservation of white rhinos,» said NBWR Animal Husbandry Director Tiffany Soechting. «Coupled with Truda turning 1, it’s a big feat for our breeding program and for rhino conservation efforts worldwide.»
Southern white rhinos, once teetering on the brink of extinction, are considered near threatened by The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). According to the International Rhino Foundation (IRF), the largest threat to rhinos is the brutality of illegal poaching, and the southern white rhinos are suffering the largest impact.
«Rhino numbers have been declining in the wild in the last decade at an alarming rate and while intensive rhino breeding programs exist, many fail due to behavioral capabilities and low infertility. Those breeding programs that succeed are providing invaluable insight on how to reverse the species decline,» said Dr. Stephen Momberg, a wildlife expert and veterinarian in Mid Wales, UK, who actively studies rhino habitat in his native South Africa.
NBWR Southern White Rhino Breeding Program
Soechting and her team have been working with animal conservation experts from around the world for over a decade to aid in projects that ensure the longevity of rhino and giraffe in the wild including Dr. Francois Deacon, a wildlife habitat expert, and lecturer at the University of the Free State South Africa. Deacon leads multiple animal conservation research efforts including an interdisciplinary project on the Ecological and biological factors regulating rhino.
In 2021, NBWR received permits from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), to work with facilities in South Africa to import two young female white rhinos, Helga and Gertie. Helga is the mother of both Truda and Gertie is the mother of Rudy.
In September, NBWR again was granted USFWS permits to import two young adult female southern white rhinos in collaboration with a facility in Namibia. Both rhinos, Agnes and Cora, have acclimated to their new home.
