Czech zoo names baby endangered rhino Kyiv

A zoo in the Czech Republic has named an endangered, baby eastern black rhinoceros in honor of Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv, in dedication to the Ukrainian forces standing against Russia’s invasion, The Associated Press reports.

“The name is another expression of our support for the Ukrainian heroes,” said zoo Director Premysl Rabas, according to the AP. 

The baby rhino was born on March 4 at the Dvur Kralove Zoo and currently weighs 110 pounds, as Kyiv’s mother, Eva, is taking good care of him, the AP notes.

The Dvur Kralove Zoo has the most rhinos in the world belonging to the eastern black subspecies, as they currently home 14. 

Forty-seven eastern black rhinos have been born at the Czech zoo since 1971, though many of them have been sent to zoos across the world and nine of them were rehabilitated back into the wild in Rwanda and Tanzania, reports the AP. 

Poaching has brought down the total number of eastern black rhinos to a mere 800 and only three of these rhinos have been born at other zoos across the world this past year.