Saving the world's wildlife is not just 'a white person thing'

In a few days it will be the 18th anniversary of the death of Michael Werikhe, the enigmatic African conservationist. You don’t hear or read much of him these days.

Nicknamed “the Rhino Man” because his work and campaigns focused on the critically endangered black rhino, Werikhe’s main campaign tactic of choice was walking to raise awareness. His first walk, starting on Christmas Day 1982, took him from Mombasa to the Kenyan capital Nairobi – a distance of 484 kilometres – and lasted for 27 days. He later walked in East Africa, Europe and North America to raise awareness and money, raising nearly $1m and covering nearly 5,000km.

Were Werikhe alive now, he would be shattered by the state of the African rhino. Of Africa’s five subspecies of rhinos, one has been declared extinct in the last two years. Of the four remaining subspecies, total numbers are around 24,000, with an estimated four individuals lost to poaching daily.

Other species are doing just as badly across the continent. Economic and population activities, combined with climate change, are hitting Africa’s wildlife and wildlands hard, and the continent is seeing devastating losses of its unique wildlife heritage.

Full story at http://bit.ly/2vnZaEA

Source: The Guardian

 

 

 

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