FALSE: Rhinos are not extinct
A Facebook post claiming that rhinos are officially extinct is FALSE.
A Google reverse search shows that the image used alongside the claim is of Sudan, the last male northern white Rhino, moments before he died at Ol Pejeta wildlife conservancy near Nanyuki, central Kenya, in 2018.
According to the 2022 State of the Rhino Report by the International Rhino Foundation, the worldwide rhino population is estimated to be fewer than 27,000.
There are five rhino species, three of which — black, Javan and Sumatran — are critically endangered due to threats from poaching, illegal horn trade and habitat loss.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) also estimates the rhino population to be “around 27,000”, rendering the claim that the mammals are extinct, incorrect.
PesaCheck has looked into a Facebook post claiming that rhinos are officially extinct and finds it to be FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck fact-checker Peris Gachahi and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editor Cédrick Irakoze and acting chief copy editor Francis Mwaniki.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck managing editor Doreen Wainainah.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.