In Other News - Rhino Rewilding

Rhinos Relocated to Greater Kruger Area As Part of Rewilding Initiative

By Jessie Taylor

A group of 120 southern white rhinos have been successfully translocated to reserves represented by the Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation (GKEPF) in Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

The translocation aims to boost the southern white rhino population in the Greater Kruger area is part of African Parks' Rhino Rewild initiative, an ambitious plan to rewild 2,000 southern white rhinos into secure protected areas in Africa over the next ten years.

Return To The Wild

In September 2023, African Parks purchased the world’s largest captive rhino breeding operation with one main objective: to rewild them all to well-managed and secure protected areas to supplement strategic populations, ultimately helping to derisk the species' future.

“Moving 120 rhino under the Rhino Rewild initiative to GKEPF will augment the existing rhino population in the Greater Kruger and ensure that these rhino are fulfilling their role in their natural environment, which has been our vision from the start,” says Peter Fearnhead, CEO of African Parks.

“Despite significant pressures, GKEPF members have played a critical role in the conservation of the Greater Kruger landscape, providing an important buffer to the Kruger and we support their commendable progress in protecting rhino populations in their native range.”

GKEPF was established in 2016 and is made up of an alliance of nine private reserves, one provincial park, and one national park. The foundation aims to service the protection needs of the western and eastern buffers of the Kruger National Park and the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier National Park. The rhino translocation comes at a time when poaching rates within GKEPF reserves have significantly declined, indicating the effectiveness of security and anti-poaching measures.

Sharon Haussmann, CEO of GKEPF, said: “The rewilding itself bears testament to the cumulative knowledge, partnerships, and insights of a protracted period of anti-poaching efforts in the Greater Kruger landscape. That the benefits so clearly outweigh the risks presents a significant opportunity for rewarding the efforts of everyone who has remained committed to safeguarding rhino populations amid extremely challenging circumstances over the past 10 to 15 years.”

Mr Fearnhead said that collaboration is at the heart of GKEPF’s mandate. “The translocated rhino have not be released into the Kruger National Park itself, but into private game reserves along its western boundary. However, the project could not have taken place without consensus, collaboration, and expert inputs from Kruger National Park and South African National Parks (SANParks).

"This strategic placement to private reserves bordering the Kruger National Park strengthens the rhino metapopulation and lays the groundwork for potential future collaboration as the Kruger continues its fight against poaching," - Peter Fearnhead.

Saving A Species

Southern white rhinos are one of two remaining subspecies of white rhinos. The other subspecies, the northern white rhino, is functionally extinct and now consists of only two captive females.

The southern white rhino population reached an all-time low of 30 to 40 animals in the 1930s, but due to extensive conservation measures and through an initiative in the 1960s known as ‘Operation Rhino’, they increased to approximately 20,000 individuals by 2010.

However, these gains were quickly lost, as more than 50% of the global population, around 12,000 rhinos, have been poached in the last ten years alone. Due to the continued poaching of their horns for the illegal wildlife trade and ongoing habitat loss, southern white rhinos are listed as near threatened on the IUCN Red List. Eighty percent of the global population is found in South Africa, with other strongholds located in Kenya, Uganda, Namibia, and Zambia, and small populations are now in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Greater Kruger region is an ideal habitat for southern white rhino. The fertile and water-rich grasslands of the selected release areas are ideal for ensuring optimal rhino health and population growth. Through a decade-long collaborative effort to combat rhino poaching, reserves and stakeholders have developed and shared a wealth of expertise. This has significantly bolstered their ability to proactively and effectively address poaching threats and safeguard the species.

The safety of these translocated rhino is at the forefront for everyone involved in the process. “The rhino will come in dehorned, which is a very effective way to decrease the poaching risk in this landscape. We're at a point where this risk is well calculated,” says Markus Hofmeyr, wildlife vet and Director of the Rhino Recovery Fund. “This will be the first reintroduction of rhino into this landscape in about 50 years,” he adds.

Moving 120 rhino is an enormous undertaking in every way, and has taken, as Ms Haussmann explains, “many, many sleepless nights” – as well as extensive funding.

African Parks is donating the animals to the reserve, with GKEPF donors contributing to the translocation costs and the subsequent ongoing monitoring of the rhino, a critical element for the project's long-term success.

Source: African Parks, Daily Maverick