Second rhino born at Nakasongola home

By Gerald Tenywa

UGANDA has seen its second rhino born at the Nakasongola sanctuary this year. After giving birth to a bull calf named Barack Obama six months ago, another male calf was produced at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary this weekend.

This brings the total number of rhinos at the sanctuary to eight. The number is expected to increase to nine because a pregnant mother is expected to deliver next month.

“Everyone at the sanctuary is very excited about these births,” said Angie Genade, the sanctuary’s executive director, in a statement.
“The calf is a bull and has been named Augustu. This is the second rhino calf to be born this year. They are the only two calves born in Uganda in the past 28 years.”

Angustu’s mother, Bella, was brought in from Solio Ranch in Kenya but had a still birth in March.

Currently, the baby and mother are living in seclusion. They are being monitored by the sanctuary rangers and are reportedly in good condition.

“All the rhinos are wild and roam on the 70km square sanctuary,” said Genade. “The births of both calves were totally natural. Our third cow, Kori, who also came from Solio Ranch in Kenya, is heavily pregnant and we are expecting her to calve either in December or January.”

Obama, who was born on June 24, 2009, is doing well, according to Genade. “He has doubled in size and is a very busy boy. He runs like the wind and the rangers struggle to keep up with his energy.”

The two calves are Uganda’s first rhinos to be born since the extinction of the white and black rhinos in the early 1980s.

Rhino Fund Uganda, a non-governmental organisation which runs the sanctuary, was formed in the 1990s to mobilise funds and technical expertise to bring back the rhinos. Their first initiative was to import rhinos.

The two imported rhinos, Sherino and Kabila, are kept at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre.

The NGO and the Uganda Wildlife Authority are preparing to import six more rhinos from South Africa early next year.