The Last Male Standing, A Powerful Film About the Caretakers of Sudan, the Last Northern White Rhino

On Mar 20, 2018, Sudan, the very last male northern white rhinoceros, sadly passed away from age related complications and with his death an entire species became extinct. Filmmakers David Hambridge and Andrew Harrison Brown traveled to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya to speak with Sudan’s beloved caretakers Jemu Mwenda and Joseph Wachira about this powerful loss. The resulting documentary The Last Male Standing tells the story about the lives of these caretakers, both with and without Sudan.

While Sudan’s passing has rattled the Ol Pejeta family to the core, one positive side of this tragedy has been seeing many of you celebrate his caretakers. Sudan’s legacy lives on especially through the lives of those that cared for him on a daily basis. Fortunately, the world will have an opportunity to get to know these admirable men beyond just the pictures that have circulated around them over the last few years.

The documentary is still in production as of this date, but it is expected to be release in early 2019.

A post shared by james mwenda (@jemu_mwenda) on

Buddy #Sudan you are a fighter. Humanity has opened the bars that locks extiction sport hunting opened the curtains that sealed you with in the grasslands of Africa,poaching unrolled the bars and now you're left hanging in the balance.vaguely looking at extinction beckoning on the other side.the tides of greed and our want-stricken society have rolled down on you.thanks for your resilience buddy.thanks for living this long! To me your long life and existence is like a mountain that serves many purposes of life. I wish all humanity would climb this mountain and see the consequences of self and political greed.i wish they could climb at the top and see beyond the horizon and learn from you.see what the human hand has done and the consequences of their actions. You stand on this mountain that the other battling species left can see themselves in the future,unfortunately the same humanity supposed to be your reason of existence has become the reason of extinction. As I guard you today I don't think I can argue with you and convince you that humanity is primitive and smarter than all other beings. While I struggle to have faith in my fellow humanity,I just think sad that justice for all massacred animals will be achieved when humanity will have pushed nature to an extreme and extinction of human beings will be inevitable. Just my thoughts ? #caretaking #hardlessons #extinctionmeansforever #sudan #lastmalestanding #shame #greed #humanity #saturdaythoughts #worthmorealivethandead

A post shared by james mwenda (@jemu_mwenda) on

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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