Mom Laloyo and baby Rhoda. (Photo from Rhino Fund Uganda)

WILDLIFE   TOURISM

A lot of happiness has been taken away by the marauding coronavirus also known as COVID-19. However, the sanctuary for white rhinos in Nakasongola has put smiles on the faces of conservationists and their supporters.  

This is after a white rhino gave birth to a female calf at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, according to the Rhino Fund Uganda. The newborn baby brings the total number at the sanctuary to 31. 

"Rhino Fund Uganda is proud to announce the birth of a healthy female calf on Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary today," according to a statement from the Rhino Fund Uganda.  "Mom Laloyo and baby Rhoda are both doing well." 

Uganda's population of northern white rhinos and black rhinos were wiped out of Uganda after relentless poaching in the early 1980s. This was a result of political turmoil and civil unrest in the 1970s and mid-1980s that gave way to freelance gunmen and state-inspired poaching in the protected areas including the national parks.  

However, sanity returned to Uganda after President Yoweri Museveni took overpower. The Uganda National Parks and Game Department were merged forming Uganda Wildlife Authority in 1996. This has led to scaling down of poaching and the numbers of wild animals in the protected areas is rising.  

The Rhino Fund Uganda was formed in the 1990s to restore Uganda's pride by bringing back the rhinos is areas they once roamed. Uganda Wildlife Education Center and Rhino Fund Uganda brought in two rhinos in the early 2000s to promote conservation education.  

Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary was set up for breeding of the rhinos with a goal of reintroducing them into the wild.