Success in rare Kenyan antelope programme: 11-09-2007
A small group of endangered Kenyan antelopes born in captivity outside of Africa have succeeded in taking the first tentative steps towards restoring their homeland's native stock.
In 2004 the 18 mountain bongo antelopes were flown from zoos in the United States back to the Mouth Kenya conservation park, where it was hoped they would be able to readjust to their native land and begin the process of repopulation.
"Since then, 11 baby bongos have been born to that herd in the safety of the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy," said a Kenya Wildlife Service official.
"We will continue with the breeding programme and monitor it to ensure they are fully introduced to the wild," Patrick Omondi, KWS head of species management, told reporters.
Some 400 of the creatures were relocated to North American zoos in the 1960s and 1970s after it became apparent that the poaching and disease were likely to make the species extinct.
Today just a few dozen wild mountain bongo antelopes remain in the central Kenyan highlands, and park officials hope that it will not be too long before the newly repatriated community is reunited with their surviving wild relatives.
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