The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) South Africa's black rhino range expansion project (BRREP) has reached a new milestone, with more than 400 rhinos recorded across its project sites since 2003.
This number includes all rhinos moved to new sites and their offspring, and in some cases second- and third-generation offspring, the WWF said on Tuesday.
The project's main aim is to increase the numbers of the critically endangered species. This is done in two ways:
- by removing black rhino from reserves with existing populations; and
- moving them to new areas where they have space to breed and thrive.
With fewer than 6,500 black rhinos left in the world, this means the project has facilitated custodianship of 16% of the South African population across 17 sites, the WWF said.
The BRREP began as a three-year project with the goal of establishing one, perhaps two, black rhino populations of 20 rhinos each. The WWF said in those early days, nobody envisioned that the project would still be running 22 years later.
It is now in its eighth three-year phase, with more than 400 rhinos in its metapopulation, spread across several sites.
Black rhino were once widely distributed across Africa but the population plunged from an estimated 100,000 in the 1960s to fewer than 2,500 by the mid-1990s because of poaching and habitat loss.
Through intensive protection and expansion work, like that carried out by the BRREP, official black rhino numbers have increased to more than 6,400.
The WWF said South Africa remains a stronghold for the species but among threats that remain are poaching and a shortage of space for them to breed and thrive.
As part of a long-term strategy, the BRREP works to diversify the gene pool and increase the growth rate and numbers of the species, working with private and community landowners as well as government organisations such as Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency to identify large blocks of land on which to establish new black rhino populations.
The WWF said the project facilitated partnerships with landowners with good black rhino habitat for creating new breeding populations. This often involved encouraging neighbouring landowners to remove the internal fences between them.
“The consolidation of habitat into ecologically viable blocks also helps other species at risk — such as wild dogs, vultures and cheetahs — all of which need large tracts of land to thrive,” it said.
The project co-ordinates the translocation of groups of up to 20 rhinos at a time to these new sites.
Jeff Cooke, rhino conservation manager with WWF South Africa, said 400 black rhinos across its project sites was an exciting milestone that demonstrated the success and effectiveness of the BRREP and its contribution to black rhino conservation.
“Translocating black rhinos to new areas is the first step towards population growth. To keep these populations healthy and growing, ongoing management such as moving rhinos for genetic reasons is important,” Cooke said.
“This is what has made BRREP so successful — the translocations and the subsequent long-term management of these new populations.”
TimesLIVE
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