Serengeti Rhino Which Died in Ngorongoro Was suffering from Gastric Complications

The Female Rhino from Serengeti National Park which recently died in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, is alleged to have been suffering serious gastric ulcers, leading to its starvation and eventually demise.

Conservation Area Authorities reveal here that, the Serengeti Rhino was about to be lifted onto a care taking facility for medical attention but died before being moved into the Fausta Cage.

According to officials, that should thus help to clarify speculations, currently going viral on social media platforms, claiming that the Rhino was actually shot down by rangers, who disappeared with its horns.

The NCAA Commissioner of Conservation, Dr Freddy Manongi dismisses the speculations as ‘politics.’

“The report I have is contrary to what is being speculated.” He maintains.

Christened Susan, the Rhino who died aged 8 years, had reportedly trekked all the way from Serengeti, down to Kakesio area, in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, looking weak and weary.

It seems the animal had also not eaten for a rather long period of time.

The Assistant Conservation Commissioner at Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Elibariki Bajuta explains the issue.

He reveals that the first time that the Rhino Susan meandered into Kakesio, from Serengeti, Ngorongoro officials relayed reports to the Tanzania National Parks.

The Rhino was later captured and taken back to Serengeti, and that was on the first day of December 2022.

However, for some reasons, or following its own animal instincts, the rhino did not stay long in the endless plains but trekked back to Ngorongoro.

This time the authorities, seeing her worsening conditions, were compelled to take different measures.

“Together with the Tanzania National Parks, we asked permission from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, to have Susan moved into the Ngorongoro Crater and be placed inside the special enclosure formerly belonging to Fausta, the oldest Rhinoceros.”

But due to her illness, fatigue and hunger, the Female Rhino succumbed to death just as the steps to have her moved into the special pen in the caldera, were being taken.

The pictures making rounds in social media and other online news platforms, showing the mutilated dead Rhino’s carcass, are said to have been taken during post-mortem dissection.

“Wildlife experts and Veterinary officers conducted the autopsy on open grounds,” explains Bajuta.

“Officials from three institutions, that is the Tanzania National Parks, the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, were all present during the post-mortem!”

He adds that during the exercise many people turned up to watch and some took photos using smartphones and shared it with speculations that rangers killed the Rhino.