Baby black rhino dies from lethal bacteria in eastern Kenya

A two-year-old baby black rhino passed on early Saturday at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Isiolo, eastern Kenya.

Lewa's CEO Mike Watson said the rhino Kilifi's death was caused by clostridium perfringens, a lethal bacteria that normally kills within four hours from the onset of signs.

"Kilifi died in the early morning, leading to the conclusion that the infection had spread at night as the baby rhino slept," Watson said, adding that Kilifi was being hand-raised on Lewa alongside three others.

"Despite our vet's greatest efforts, the rhino succumbed to the effects of endotoxin.This infection is the first case ever recorded on Lewa," Watson said.

He said the wildlife organization was currently giving the other three orphans antibiotics for short-term protection, with plans to have annual polyvalent vaccines as a long-term deterrent.

Renowned for his feisty spirit, Kilifi was a favourite among Lewa staff, visitors and most of all his keepers who loved and cared for him deeply since he was days old.

The black rhinos were once found abundantly throughout sub-Saharan Africa with the exception of the Congo Basin.

Poaching has by now limited their habitat to a patchy distribution from Cameroon in the west, to Kenya in the east and south to South Africa, and only a few years ago, it looked that wild black rhinos would disappear from Africa altogether.

Black rhino populations in Africa decimated from approximately 100,000 to just 2,500 individuals as a result of poaching in the 1970s and 1980s.

Kenya's black rhino population has increased from 381 since 1987 to a current estimate of 640, according to Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).

It is projected to rise significantly in the near future, especially with growing partnerships between government, communities and conservation organizations. Enditem