On Thursday evening an 8 year old black rhino on Ol Pejeta was shot by poachers. She survived at least initially, but was separated from her one-month old baby who was attacked and eaten by lions. Later that day or early the next the new mother rhino died.
When we drove though Ol Pejeta Friday morning, we watched low flying planes and then saw a helicopter at conservancy headquarters. We did not know what had happened until later. The senseless attack, driven by someone's false notion of an aphrodisiac, is a complete waste. Even though the IBEIS project does not contribute directly (at least not at this point) to the anti-poaching efforts, the recent killings of rhinos Ol Pejeta and nearby Ol Jogi (a few days before we arrived) added a sense of immediacy to the problems Kenya and other nearby countries face in their conservation efforts.
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