Conservation Research in Times of COVID-19 – The Rescue of the Northern White Rhino

Abstract

COVID-19 has changed the world at unprecedented pace. The measures imposed by governments across the globe for containing the pandemic have severely affected all facets of economy and society, including scientific progress. Сonservation research has not been exempt from these negative effects, which we here summarize for the BioRescue project, aiming at saving the northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), an important Central African keystone species, of which only two female individuals are left. The development of advanced assisted reproduction and stem-cell technologies to achieve this goal involves experts across five continents. Maintaining international collaborations under conditions of national shut-down and travel restrictions poses major challenges. The associated ethical implications and consequences are particularly troublesome when it comes to research directed at protecting biological diversity – all the more in the light of increasing evidence that biodiversity and intact ecological habitats might limit the spread of novel pathogens.

Ethical Analysis of the Application of Assisted Reproduction Technologies in Biodiversity Conservation and the Case of White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) Ovum Pick-Up Procedures

“…The full procedure as it is performed currently in white rhinoceros involves ovarian super stimulation, full anesthesia, and transrectal ultrasound-guided oocyte recovery ( 17 , 43 , 47 ). In the addressed context, the procedure has been conducted regularly (albeit with at least 3 months of lapse) in the two remaining NWR females ( 48 ). Table 3 recaps the results of the seven procedures that have been executed so far in NWR.…”

Application of decision tools to ethical analysis in biodiversity conservation

“…Before the suspension, 10 oocytes were collected from Najin from which no blastocyst‐stage embryo was generated. In the same period, 34 oocytes were collected from Fatu in four procedures, and five embryos were generated (Hildebrandt et al., 2021b).…”

In vitro fertilization program in white rhinoceros

“…The black rhinoceros ( Dicerosbicornis ) is also listed as critically endangered ( Emslie 2020 b ). Of the two white rhino (WR) subspecies – Southern (SWR; Ceratotheriumsimumsimum ) and Northern white rhinoceros (NWR; C. s. cottoni ) – the latter was recently reduced to two infertile females, destined to be the next in line for annihilation ( Emslie 2020 c , Hildebrandt et al 2021 a , b ).…”