Rhino de-horning, says one conservation group, could help prevent the poaching of the endangered animals.
Project Rhino, an association of organisations established in 2011 that facilitates vital rhino conservation interventions, made the national and international call for funding to have approximately 200 rhino de-horned in KwaZulu-Natal over the next year.
They said in a statement that de-horning was seen as a temporary measure to prevent the killing of a rhino for its horn by poachers.
“It is an ongoing process, as the horn grows (back) after removal.”
They said the province had lost close on 200 rhino this year, compared to 162 rhino in 2016.
“While these figures are alarming, the de-horning intervention has achieved positive results over the last two years since it was initiated in a many of the private reserves in KZN. For five years since 2011, the rhinos poached in private reserves made up 24% of the total lost in the provinces. Since dehorning started, this number has dropped to an average of 4.5% over the past two years.”
The de-horning process, they said, was conducted by an experienced wildlife veterinarian and a team of specialists whereby the rhino was sedated, and the horn removed and shaped to take off as much horn material as possible in a quick and painless procedure.
“Our member reserves, who are made up of private, community and state owned reserves, have communicated to Project Rhino that one of their greatest needs is to de-horn all their rhino and to continue to maintain the horns as short as possible,” said Project Rhino co-ordinator Chris Galliers.
The group conducted 25 horn removals from KZN reserves since June this year, which cost a total of R200 000 and was now faced with overwhelming requests to conduct over 200 horn removals in KZN which will cost approximately R1.6 million.
“At an average of between R7000 and R8000 per rhino, the costs quickly add up and have been further exacerbated by other budget demands and budget cuts to many rhino reserves.”
For more information or to make a donation, visit the group’s
.