He’s the last of his kind on Earth, and they’re not taking any chances.
Sudan, a male northern white rhino, is believed to be the sole male survivor of a species decimated by poachers.
To protect him, a conservancy in Kenya is guarding him around the clock with armed rangers and radio transmitters that monitor his every move.
Sudan’s ivory horn has also been removed to deter ruthless poachers, who have wiped out the white rhinos and sold their horns for big money in Asia, where they are believed to have medicinal value.
In parts of Vietnam, the horns are believed to cure “everything from hangovers to cancer,” according to National Geographic.
When poachers go after the horns, they usually kill the rhinos to get them.
“The only reason his horn has been cut off is to deter poachers,” said Elodie Sampere, marketing manager of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. “If the rhino has no horn, he is of no interest to poachers.”
A rhinoceros horn can fetch nearly $30,000 per pound in some global black markets, making it worth more than the street price of cocaine.
As a result, there are 90 percent fewer rhinos in the wild than there were in 1970, according to experts.
In 1960, there were more than 2,000 northern white rhinos roaming the Earth, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature. Poaching, however, reduced this number to 15 by 1984.
To make up for removing Sudan’s horn, conservancy officials have paired him up with not one but two female white rhinos with the hope of appeasing the big guy — and repopulating the species.
But, alas, Sudan is 42, kind of old in rhino years, and his libido isn’t what it used to be. So officials are considering in vitro fertilization.
In the meantime, to guard against poachers, the rangers have received world-class training and the latest in equipment and support, including night-vision goggles, GPS tracking devices and a team of tracking and support dogs.
The only other male northern white rhino left on Earth died last autumn of natural causes.