No Poaching, Please: Black Rhino Thrives with New Measures

Thanks to new measures from Kenya’s Wildlife Service and intensified surveillance from park rangers, 2020 marked a record year for zero rhinoceros poachings in Kenyan national parks.

“There is a new strategy,” says agency director Edwin Wanyonyi, “[that will allow park rangers to] be able to respond at all times.” New housing and new equipment such as firearms and uniforms are all being implemented for the park rangers.

Beginning in the 1960s and lasting for three decades, Kenya’s black rhino population dwindled by 97%, with only a few hundred remaining at the end of the 1990s. Today, thanks to new protection efforts, Kenya’s rhino population is recovering. It now stands at around 1,200 and is expected to continue to rise.