00:01These Kenyan conservationists are waiting for a rhino.
00:06They need to act fast to sedate it, surround the animal,
00:11and then cut a small triangle into its ear.
00:15This action, called ear notching, will help them track and protect the animal from poaching.
00:21We carry out this rhino notching exercise after every two years,
00:26purposely to make sure we are able to identify individual rhinos by their numbers.
00:32Here the calving of rhinos is very high, and therefore the population is going up as fast as possible,
00:39because of the kind of ecosystem support to the rhino population is very viable.
00:47Kenya has long struggled to protect its rhino populations,
00:51which dwindled due to poachers killing the animals for their precious horns.
00:54But more recently, the country has managed to turn the situation around.
01:00By the 1970s, we had about 20,000 black rhino, the eastern black rhino.
01:06Right now, if you go back to 1980s, due to poaching, about 400 rhinos or so were left by 1985.
01:15Kenya took the bold step of recovering its rhino population, including building of sanctuaries, securing those that were free roaming.
01:24And by last year, after many, many efforts, many concerted efforts, Kenya achieved its key landmark of 1,000 black rhino.
01:32So far this year, 46 rhinos have been notched and are now known to the conservationists.
01:38It's another step towards helping the species return from the brink of extinction.
01:42For more information, visit www.fema.org.au
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