The San Diego Zoo Safari Park has received thousands of messages from people all over the world following news of the death of Nola, the zoo’s endangered northern white rhino.
Many expressed their sorrow and posted pictures on social media of their visits to see Nola.
“It’s hard not to get emotional about it because for us it’s a loss of a family member and to see that she touched so many people,” said Rick Schwartz of San Diego Zoo Global.
The rhino died on Sunday morning; a bacterial infection and age-related health issues forced zoo staffers to euthanize here.
Her death leaves only three northern white rhinos in the world.
Those rhinos live in Kenya and cannot breed.
Scientists have the cells from 12 northern white rhinos frozen and are using the southern white rhinos as surrogate mothers in hopes to halt the ultimate extinction.
“We’re either going to make a difference and prevent the extinction of a species or with what we learn we can apply to the other species that are unfortunately heading down the same path,” Schwartz said.
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This project will likely not yield results for five to 10 years.
