Critically endangered northern white rhino dies at Czech zoo
Jul 28, 2015, 11:06 AM
FILE - In this July 8, 2011 file photo Nabire, a white rhino sits in its enclosure at the zoo in Dvur Kralove, Czech Republic. The rhino female Nabire, belived to be one of the last five white rhinoceroses in the world, died in the Czech Zoological Garden in Dvur Kralove after a cyst in her body burst on Monday, Czech news agency CTK reported Tuesday July 28, 2015 after the zoo mentioned the death of the animal on their webpage. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)
(AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)
PRAGUE (AP) — One of the last five northern white rhinoceros left in the world has died.
The Czech zoo in Dvur Kralove says the 31-year-old female Nabire died Monday evening due to a ruptured cyst.
Nabire was born in the zoo on Nov. 15, 1983 — a rare case of the species being born in captivity.
The zoo’s director Premysl Rabas called the death “a loss hard to describe.”
He said “Nabire’s death has brought another animal species close to complete extinction.”
Only four other northern white rhinos remain: one at San Diego Zoo and three at Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy.
In 2009, the Czech zoo moved four rhinos to Kenya hoping that the natural environment there would help them breed but that plan failed.
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