Plan to re-wild 100 white rhinos to prevent extinction

To prevent white rhinos from becoming extinct, a proposal to annually re-wild about 100 southern white rhinoceros to their natural habitat in southern Africa is to be implemented. Picture: Quintus Strauss

To prevent white rhinos from becoming extinct, a proposal to annually re-wild about 100 southern white rhinoceros to their natural habitat in southern Africa is to be implemented. Picture: Quintus Strauss

Published Jun 7, 2022

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Cape Town - In a attempt to prevent white rhinos from becoming extinct, a comprehensive proposal to annually re-wild about 100 southern white rhinoceros to their natural habitat in southern Africa is to be implemented.

Rhinos for this rewilding proposal will be sourced from among the 2 004 currently located on 8 400 hectares of grassland in the North West.

The process forms part of a private conservation initiative that can reduce the pressure on shrinking populations of this iconic species.

John Hume’s dedication through successfully breeding the species away from extinction for three decades to protect the rhinos is one of the most remarkable conservation success stories in the private sector in South Africa.

About 30 years ago, his concern about the future survival of the species inspired him to purchase a small group of 12 rhinos.

Since then, 1 800 calves have been born and 82 rhinos were sold.

A total of 360 rhinos have died, mostly from natural causes. At an average population growth of 8%, this unique project has made the single biggest contribution to sustaining the southern white rhino population.

“We recently celebrated five years and two months without losing a single rhino to poaching. To prevent the rhino from going extinct, you must breed better and you must protect better.

“The threat to rhinos is not waning. We will lose them all unless we do something different,” said Hume.

Earlier this week, conservation authorities in KwaZulu-Natal announced that 106 rhinos have been poached in the province’s parks and reserves since January 2022. KZN lost 102 rhinos to poaching last year and 93 in 2020.

SANParks lost 209 rhinos to poaching in 2021, while 124 rhinos were poached from private reserves in the same period.

“Our rhinos are under constant 24-hour visual watch. The security system comprises state-of-the-art technology, including radar and virtual fences, boots on the ground, and helicopter surveillance,” said Brandon Jones, the project’s security manager.

“We know where all the rhinos are all of the time.”

Rhino horn trimming, under the guidance of veterinarian Dr Michelle Otto, forms part of the project’s security measures.

This practice has been adopted widely by rhino custodians across the region, including in the Kruger National Park, to make the rhinos less attractive to poachers.

Dr Otto is working on a collaboration with Dr Cindy Harper and RhODIS (Rhino DNA Index System) based at the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the University of Pretoria at Onderstepoort on an extensive genetic analysis of the project’s rhino to identify if there were any rare genetic lines present that need to be preserved.

Cape Times