The rhino was killed by poachers in Lake Nakuru park/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 8 – A suspect linked to the killing of a 12-year-old rhino at Lake Nakuru National Park on Tuesday last week has been arrested.
The suspected poacher, whose name was withheld, was booked for interrogation at the Kongoni Police Station in Nakuru following hus arrest on Tuesday night.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) tweeted on Wednesday afternoon that a rifle and six pieces of ivory were recovered from the suspect.
“He was booked at Kongoni Police Station in Nakuru and interrogation is underway,” KWS stated.
On Tuesday, the service announced that it was seeking another set of poachers following the recovery of eight pieces of ivory at the Archers Post in Samburu County.
According to the agency, the poachers fled leaving behind the ivory consignment and an assortment of arms.
The Tuesday night arrest came at a time heightened public anger over the death of all the eleven black rhinos translocated to the Tsavo East National Park in June.
An official report released on July 26 indicated that ten of the eleven rhinos had died due to acute dehydration triggered by the uptake of saline water.
According to a six-member probe team that investigated the deaths, the rhinos suffered Multiple Stress Syndrome escalated by the update of saline water as well as starvation.
The inquest reported “starvation, proliferation of opportunistic bacteria in upper respiratory tract (Pasteurella species), gastric ulcers and gastritis” as contributing factors to the deaths.
The last of the eleven rhinos died on Monday after its condition worsened on Saturday.
The rhino was, at the time of its death, nursing wounds inflicted on it by a pride of rhinos that attacked it last month.
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