(21 May 2025)
KENYA RHINO EAR NOTCHING
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
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LENGTH: 5:24
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Meru county, Kenya – 15 May 2025
1. Various of rangers from Lewa conservancy and Kenya Wildlife Service pinning down and conducting ear notching on a white rhino
2. Various of the ear notching process on white rhinos
3. Various of white rhinos in grassland, with white marks to identify them
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dominic Maringa head of conservation and wildlife at Lewa conservancy:
"We carry out this rhino notching exercise after every two years purposely to make sure we are able to identify individual rhinos by their numbers. Here the calving (breeding) of rhinos is very high and therefore the population is coming up as soon as possible because of the kind of the ecosystem support to the rhino population is very viable."
5. Various setup shots of Phillip Muruthi, Vice president Africa Wildlife Foundation
6. SOUNDBITE (English): Phillip Muruthi Vice president Africa Wildlife Foundation
"By the 1970s we had around 20,000 black rhinos; the eastern black rhino. Right now if you go back to the 1980s due to poaching around 400 rhinos or so were left by 1985. Kenya took the bold step of recovering its rhino population including building of sanctuaries, securing those which were already roaming and by last year after many concerted efforts, Kenya achieved its key landmark of 1,000 black rhino. So we have about 1,000 eastern black rhinos, about 1,000 southern white rhinos and 2 or 1northern white rhinos. So in total around 2,100 rhinos live in Kenya."
7. Various setup shots of Phillip Muruthi Vice president Africa Wildlife Foundation
8. SOUNDBITE (English): Phillip Muruthi Vice president Africa Wildlife Foundation
"The smaller the population of a species that we are managing, you will do what we call biological management. So you do not want mother and son breeding for example because you may have genetic implications and so one of the advantages of notching and individual identification is simply to manage the population and allow them to grow faster without allowing any genetic bottlenecks. In terms of disadvantages, a mistake could occur but this is very rare."
9. Medium of a white rhino
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Nairobi National Park, Kenya – 18 September 2024
10. Various of rhinos grazing
11. Close of rhino
12. Pan of rhino grazing
13. Wide of rhino calf suckling
14. Various of rhinos in Nairobi National Park
STORYLINE:
LEADIN:
Rhino’s ears are being carefully ‘notched’ with small, uniquely shaped cuts to help conservationists track and monitor individual animals.
The long-running practice is part of Kenya’s wider efforts to protect its recovering rhino population from poaching and genetic decline.
STORYLINE:
In the golden grasslands of Meru County, Kenya, a team of conservationists closes in on a white rhino.
It’s a fast, focused operation.
Rhinos are darted from above, sedated safely, then surrounded.
An army of vets and rangers from the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and the Kenya Wildlife Service then move in swiftly.
There’s a narrow window to act.
With precision, they cut a small triangle from the rhino’s ear.
Each shape, each notch, forms a unique code – a kind of fingerprint that will help track and monitor this individual for life.
Termed ‘ear notching’, it’s a crucial tool in Kenya’s long fight to save its rhinos.
Once critically endangered, Kenya’s rhinos are now making a cautious comeback.
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