Kenya’s rhinos cannot survive in the wild

Charity Rhino Ark says rhinos in Kenya are increasingly vulnerable to organised poaching gangs and should be protected in sanctuaries.

Kenya is home to about 850 black and white rhino. (Reuters)

After roaming free for millions of years, rhinos may be able to survive in Kenya only if they are protected behind fences in sanctuaries, a leading conservation charity said.

Kenya has about 850 black and white rhinos out of approximately 25000 in Africa, but more than 50 were killed for their horns in 2013, up from 30 killings in 2012, and those that remain are increasingly vulnerable to organised poaching gangs, said Christian Lambrechts, director of Nairobi-based conservation group Rhino Ark.

"The situation in the last year has deteriorated. The gangs are extremely well organised and people from inside the Kenya Wildlife Service have been found to be colluding [with them]," he said.

"There is a growing realisation that private land holders do not have the ability to safeguard all of them. Rhinos cannot remain in the wild. They must be brought into sanctuaries."

Lambrechts, a former United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) officer, said up to 100 rhino could be eventually relocated in the Aberdare mountains in central Kenya, which has been surrounded by a 250 mile electrified fence built by Rhino Ark with the help of dozens of communities along its length.

"Kenya is lacking room for around 100 rhino. The Kenya wildlife service is looking to safeguard all the rhino in the country," Lambrechts says.

But he said the Aberdare fence, completed in 2009, did not stop poachers killing two out of the eight rhinos living in the hills this year.

"Never have fences been needed more, but they are not enough. The fence has not stopped organised poaching. Fences only stop opportunistic poaching. Nor are sanctuaries the complete answer. Rhinos are being lost from inside them too."

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Kenya's rhinos cannot survive in the wild