In the first nine months of this year, poachers have killed 190 rhinos in state-run protected areas in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. That’s one rhino killed every 35 hours. Most of this surge in poaching has taken place in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, better known as HIP. HIP is one of Africa’s earliest proclaimed conservation areas, established […]
Tag: Ceratotherium simum
Trafficked: Kidnapped chimps, jailed rhino horn traffickers, and seized donkey parts
LUBUMBASHI Democratic Republic of Congo Three chimpanzees have been kidnapped and are being held for ransom after intruders broke into a primate sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Franck Chantereau, founder of the J.A.C.K. Primate Rehabilitation Centre, says the kidnappers got into the 7-hectare (17-acre) facility in the southern city of Lubumbashi at around 3 […]
White rhino conservation project attempts paradigm shift by including local community
TSHOLOTSHO, Zimbabwe – Two men crouch beside a pile of rhino dung, using their bare hands to break apart the drying lumps to search for the remnants of the animal’s last meal. “There are some nice thick grasses in here,” says Daniel Terblanche, recording his observations on his phone camera and then sending the video […]
One of world’s last two northern white rhinos withdrawn from breeding program
Scientists striving to save the northern white rhino from extinction have announced their decision to retire one of the world’s last two individuals from their assisted breeding program. The BioRescue consortium resolved to stop harvesting eggs from 32-year-old Najin following an in-depth ethical risk assessment that took many factors into consideration, including her age, reproductive […]
Drones are a knife in the gunfight against poaching. But they’re leveling up
In 2016, during the height of the rhino poaching war, field rangers in Kruger National Park in South Africa saw sobering scenes day after day. The field reports showed just how bleak the situation was. One log entry described discovery of “an adult female white rhino carcass … suspected to have been shot by the […]
South African dehorning initiative aims for ‘zero poached’ white rhinos
The team works quickly. As soon as a rhino is safely sedated, they motor up a chainsaw and begin shearing off the animal’s signature horns. White flakes of keratin fly through the air like snow, littering the ground. When they power the chainsaw off, only stubs are left where the rhino’s horns used to be. […]
For two rhino species on brink of extinction, it’s collaboration vs. stonewalling
Fatu doesn’t seem to care about the carrot she’s been offered by her caretaker. She raises her enormous head and gives it a sniff before returning to what she was doing, which is nipping delicately at the dry, scraggly grass at her feet. A few yards away, her mother, Najin, is doing the same. “They’re […]
Within His Lifetime…
At the current rate of poaching, the rhinoceros as a species will become extinct in the wild within this youngsters lifetime. Can we allow that to happen? Let us all help in some way in order to give this amazing little guy a future of hope. Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, Zambia.