Lake Nakuru black rhinoceros sanctuary

As the author of the article, Lake Nakuru Black Rhinoceros Sanctuary (Oryx, 24, 90-94), may 1 please be allowed to comment on some of the points raised by Mr R. T. Elliott in his letter (Oryx, 26, 174-175)? I write as a patron of the Rhino Rescue Charitable Appeal Trust since its inception in 1985, and as a trustee from 1986 to 1991. 1. Mr Elliott says that 'this sanctuary was always intended as a sanctuary for both black and white rhinos ... this point should have been mentioned'. This is not so. Rhino Rescue's brochure clearly states that the Trust was set up specifically to try to halt the decline in numbers of the black rhino, and does not mention the white rhino at all; the later intro- duction to Nakuru of a few of the latter was purely incidental. 2. Mr Elliot says that 'it was, indeed, due to excess numbers of both species that the Rhino Rescue started'. This, too, is incorrect. The Rhino Rescue Trust was, as stated above, formed solely to try to protect the diminishing population of black rhinos. The only place in Kenya where there was an excess of numbers was on the privately owned Solio ranch - an excess that the transference of animals from Solio to Nakuru helped to alleviate. 3. Mr Elliott says that 'Peter Jenkins and I decided to ... set up rhino sanctuaries elsewhere', implying that he had a hand in the formation of the Lake Nakuru sanctuary. He had no part in it whatsoever.