Zoo points way to save the world’s rhinos

DUBLIN Zoo is leading the hard-nosed charge to help save rhinos in Africa, India and Indonesia.

Conservationists yesterday kicked off a campaign to raise €20,000 to protect endangered species of rhinoceros.

The launch was timed to coincide with St Patrick’s Day, when the city attraction is expecting visitor numbers to soar.

Helen Clarke, of Dublin Zoo, said: “We want to tell as many people as possible about the plight of the wild rhino over the St Patrick’s weekend. The rhino is under threat from loss of habitat and poaching for their horns. Their plight is critical and we will be raising money throughout the year.”

The campaign is being organised by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA).

Dublin Zoo, which has a herd of six rhino, is leading the country’s efforts for the EAZA campaign.

The zoo has two male rhinos, Chaka and Sam, and four females - Reni, Suki, Ashanti and Zanta - and is attempting to get them to breed.

The thick-skinned giants are white southern rhinos, of which there are 11,000 in the wild in Africa.

Among the endangered species of rhino the zoo is trying to help are the northern African white and the black rhinoceros.

EAZA estimates there are just 60 Javan rhino left and 300 Sumatran rhino, living in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Also on the critically endangered list are India’s greater one-horned rhino (2,400) and Africa’s black rhinoceros (3,100).