The last retreat of Kenya’s near-extinct roan antelope

How poachers and habitat loss killed all but 12 of this once-common animal

Roan antelopes range widely in Africa but numbers are plummeting (Pixabay)

By Dan Kaburu for K24 TV in Kenya

Scientists monitoring wildlife declines calculate that the roan antelope should be classified as of ‘Least Concern’. But in Kenya, numbers have dropped from hundreds to only a handful in one human generation.

Ruma National Park in the country’s west is their last retreat. Dan Kaburu visits to speak to locals who remember when these were commonly-sighted animals, and hears it is the illegal wildlife trade and poaching that has driven them to the very brink of extinction in Kenya.

Watch Dan’s full story here

This article is reproduced here as part of the Giants Club African Conservation Journalism Fellowships, a programme of the charity Space for Giants and supported by the majority shareholder of ESI Media, which includes independent.co.uk. It aims to expand the reach of conservation and environmental journalism in Africa, and bring more African voices into the international conservation debate.