Educating schoolchildren and tourists to save rhinos

The rhinoceros, the largest land mammal after the elephant, is a victim of habitat degradation and poaching. When it reopened in 2014, the Parc zoologique de Paris welcomed two male white rhinos, Wami and Angus, born in 2011. 

They were joined in 2024 by two females, who share the redesigned enclosure in the Africa biozone. The Park participates in the ex situ reproduction of the white rhinoceros as part of an EEP and in actions carried out in Kenya.

Following a dialogue with the Save the Rhino association, the Parc zoologique de Paris has become the only zoo to partner the Borana reserve in Kenya, an isolated, unspoilt area rich in other species. With no poaching, Borana's managers can focus on long-term objectives and work with local people to teach them how to live with rhinos and prepare future generations to be protectors of wildlife.

The Parc zoologique de Paris is supporting and sharing this original approach by providing €20,000 in financial support, thanks to donations collected during two Zoo Runs and Silent Zoo evenings:  

• chartering a bus to enable children to spend a day with the ranger in the reserve;
• building a room to bring together the communities that live near or on the wildlife's territories and show them eco-responsible farming methods;
• contributing to the detailed monitoring of the reserve's animals, whose small numbers mean that they have to be monitored almost individually, as in the park.  Other initiatives are currently being developed.

Other initiatives are currently being developed.