Nesari, among the few northern white rhinos left, dies at Czech zoo

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PRAGUE — A 39-year-old northern white rhinoceros has died at a Czech zoo, further reducing the world’s dwindling population of the endangered animal, an official said Friday.

Nesari died in her sleep of old age on May 26, Dvur Kralove zoo spokeswoman Jana Mysliveckova said. She called the death ‘an irretrievable loss.’

The rhino was brought to the zoo in 1975 from Sudan. Nesari’s death leaves the zoo with one remaining northern white rhino, 30-year-old Nabire.

In an attempt to save the species from extinction, the Czech zoo moved four of its northern white rhinos to a game park in Kenya in December 2009, hoping it would be easier for them to breed there than in captivity.

Mysliveckova said few of these rhinos are now left: two at a zoo in San Diego; three or four believed to live in Sudan have not been seen since last year.

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-- Associated Press