A new white rhino will arrive at the Thoiry zoo

The Thoiry zoo, in the Yvelines, will welcome a new resident on September 29.

As reported by

, the white rhinoceros Wakiti will disembark from the zoo of La Boissière-du-Doré (Loire-Atlantique) where he was born.

The three-year-old animal will replace Vince with two other congeners.

Vince was shot three times in the head in 2017 by poachers within the park.

Its horns had been sawn off.

It was the first such attack in a European zoo, indicate our colleagues.

A very endangered species

In France, 62 white rhinos are hosted in animal parks.

The species is threatened in its natural habitat and only 20,000 specimens remain in the wild in the world.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified the southern subspecies in the category of "almost threatened with extinction" and that of the north in "critical danger of extinction", specifies the zoo of Thoiry on its website.

The main threat to the white rhino is human, with the development of poaching.

The species is hunted for its horns and also suffers the ravages of conflict in many African countries.

The fighting destroys the habitat of the animals and pushes the local populations to illegal hunting.

Justice

Rennes: Up to 100,000 euros per kilo… International trafficking in ivory and rhino horns

Planet

Yvelines: A rhinoceros from Thoiry zoo shot dead by poachers and his horn chopped off

• Zoo

• Poaching

• Animals

• Rhinoceros