00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 They're back.
00:03 Conservationists in Kenya are celebrating
00:06 after a critically endangered species
00:08 was returned to a grassy plateau
00:10 that hasn't seen them in decades.
00:13 21 black eastern rhinos are stepping into
00:16 what officials call their rightful habitat
00:19 for the first time in almost 50 years,
00:21 thanks to the efforts of Kenya's Wildlife Service.
00:24 In partnership with several private conservancies,
00:27 successfully relocated the animals
00:29 to a conservancy in the northern part of the country.
00:32 Officials say the last time a black rhino
00:34 was seen in the wild in this region
00:36 was in the mid-1970s.
00:38 Media reports say this species of rhino
00:40 almost went extinct in Kenya in the 1980s
00:44 after their numbers dwindled from 20,000 to just 300
00:48 because of illegal poaching.
00:50 Officials estimate the country now has
00:51 just over 1,000 black rhinos,
00:54 and the government hopes to double that number
00:56 over the next 13 years, by 2037.
00:59 (dramatic music)
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