Chuck the rhino passes away at Safari Park

SAN DIEGO – A longtime resident of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park has died.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports Chuck, a southern white rhinoceros, was euthanized last Friday after enduring a significant decline in health. His age was estimated at nearly 50.

Chuck was best known as the companion of Nola, one of the world’s last remaining northern white rhinos when she died in 2015. Nola also was euthanized, leaving just three of her kind in the world. She was in her early 40s.

Chuck’s species is estimated at 20,000. The Safari Park has 16 other southern white rhinos, two males and 14 females.

Associate Curator of Mammals at the Safari Park Andy Blue says a necropsy is being performed.

Chuck is believed to have been born in 1969.

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Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.utsandiego.com