"The friendliest rhino in Africa" killed by poachers
10th July 2011
Poachers have slaughtered Max, the friendly white rhino that featured on the BBC’s 'Last Chance to See' programme
A southern white rhino named Max is now dead after poachers in Kenya killed him – despite his horns having been removed by conservationists. It seems that, having shot him 17 times, the poachers sawed out the stumps that remained .
Max became a television star on the BBC’s Last Chance to See programme, after Stephen Fry was tricked into believing the hand-reared animal was incredibly dangerous.
The death of the six-year-old rhino has led to the programme's presenters, Mark Carwardine, and Stephen Fry, tweeting their thoughts on the tragedy.
Mark tweeted, “Very sad news. Max – friendly white rhino in Last Chance to See – just killed by poachers. No rhino is safe.”
Stephen Fry then replied by tweeting, “The organised scale of rhino poaching awful. Grieving at terrible news of the slaughter of Max, whom @markcarwardine and I knew and loved.”
Max was a hand-reared, bottle-fed rhino that Mark described in his book (Last Chance to See) as being 'the tamest rhino in Africa'.He lived at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, which is also home to four extremely rare northern white rhino.
Mark suggests that anyone who wants to help fight rhino poaching should support ou'd Save the Rhino (www.savetherhino.org), the David Shepherd Foundation (www.davidshepherd.org) or Ol Pejeta Conservancy (www.olpejetaconservancy.org).
Poaching is at an all-time high in Africa, due to the demand for rhino horns in China, where it is used for traditional medicine. In order to save the rhino, conservationists want to see international moves to eliminate the supply and demand of rhino horns.
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