Dvur Kralove nad Labem, East Bohemia, Oct 16 (CTK) – A female black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis), sent to the Mkomazi national park in Tanzania from the Czech Dvur Kralove zoo in June 2016, died in recent days, the head of the zoo’s international projects, Jan Stejskal, told journalists on Monday.
The female rhino, called Eliska, died from an internal injury, caused to it by the male Monduli, Stejskal said.
Eliska was to reinforce the rhino population in Tanzania, devastated by poachers.
“Unfortunately, similar cases occur among the animals bred both by people and living in the wild,” Stejskal said.
The male was sent to Tanzania by the British zoo in Port Lympne.
Only a few hundreds of black rhinos live in the wild in Africa.
The female rhino was transported via Leipzig on June 26-27, 2016, and from there it was flown to Africa.
The project of return of rhinos to the wild is headed by the well-known conservationist Tony Fitzjohn. So far, it has been quite successful.
The Dvur Kralove zoo sent three rhinos to Mkomazi in 2009. The fourth, female Eliska, born in Dvur Kralove in 2012, was sent to Tanzania last year. She accompanied Deborah, Jamie and another male Jabu. Consequently, two rhino couples were completed.
The Dvur Kralove zoo is one of the most successful breeders of black rhinos in the world. So far 44 have been born there. The zoo has bred 57 rhinos in total, including other species.
The Mkomazi National Park, declared in 2008 thanks to Fitzjohn’s initiative, covers more than 3200 square kilometres in northeast Tanzania.
