Project Rhino, an association of like-minded organisations established in 2011, facilitates vital rhino conservation interventions to support KwaZulu-Natal game reserves and their anti-poaching operations. WILDLANDS is part of the affiliated organisations of Project Rhino. This past week, Project Rhino, Love Africa Marketing, Wildlife ACT, WILDLANDS and Emvokweni Community Trust (ECT) hosted key national and international media on a 3-day site visit in Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal.
The objective of this visit was to give the media real conservation experience in the hope of enabling them to tell the ‘action story’ around anti-poaching interventions in securing the survival of the rhino populations.
“Wildlife ACT has had a long association with Somkhanda since the first rhinos were introduced and we commend the Emvokweni Community Trust for proactively protecting their rhino population by dehorning every rhino on the property. In addition, Wildlife ACT assists with ongoing daily monitoring of both the white and black rhino populations, making use of state of the art technology in the form of tracking foot collars that WILDLANDS and the ECT elect to fit to every single rhino. These measures, in conjunction with high field ranger densities, mean that the risk of poaching to this important population is greatly reduced,” comments Taryn Gilroy, Wildlife ACT Director.
On day 1, the media visited the Zululand Anti-poaching Wing (ZAP Wing) base and the Project Rhino K-9 Unit. The K-9 Unit aims to assist Zululand member rhino reserves, which includes private, state and community owned reserves, with an additional law enforcement tool. At the ZAP Wing base, they learnt about the importance of aerial surveillance in supporting the 25 member reserves in KZN. ZAP Wing are the crucial ‘eye in the sky’ which assists the team on the ground with coordinating a quicker response time should any emergency arise.
“Project Rhino, now in its 7th year, are still facing the rhino poaching and wildlife crime challenges. The perception might be that the poaching problem has dissipated, but in fact we have seen a continual escalation with 2017 being the worst year the province has seen this century. Project Rhino continues to bring together organizations with a common vision and goal, identifying synergies through an integrated, common approach and is collectively a representative body that carries powerful leverage ability. We will continue to work towards the ultimate goal of stopping wildlife crime”, added Project Rhino Coordinator, Chris Galliers.
The media were taken on game vehicles around the Somkhanda 12 000ha reserve on day 2 where rhino were darted, dehorned and fitted with new trackers. During a dehorning activity, DNA samples are taken, and young “clean” individuals are ear-notched. This process enables the monitoring team to uniquely recognise the individual.
The de-horning process is conducted by an experienced wildlife veterinarian and a team of specialists whereby the rhino is sedated, and the horn is removed and shaped to take off as much horn material as possible in a quick and painless procedure. The safety and well-being of the animal is always the top priority.
The rhino horn is made of keratin, which is the same type of protein that makes up hair and finger nails. The horn regrowth should be trimmed approximately every 18 months to deter poachers. This costs an average of R7000-8000 per rhino, which can be costly considering the tight and over stretched rhino reserve budgets.
On day 3, the conservation in action team visited the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park Horse Unit. The unit’s section ranger and management met with the media and educated them about the challenges facing the rangers. These rangers cover long distances on horseback as some of these areas are not ideal on foot. These are the men and women at the coal face of conservation; they play a crucial and necessary role in the protection of rhino.
Poaching methods are always changing and becoming more sophisticated, and so counter-poaching interventions must adapt. 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 on 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 2 years.
“WILDLANDS and the Emvokweni Community Trust are extremely fortunate to have partners like Project Rhino and Wildlife ACT to help us manage our rhino population at Somkhanda. We are also very grateful to the Green Trust and the Global Nature Fund who support our work in the neighbouring community, spreading the benefits of conservation to the owners of Somkhanda. All our partners immediately rallied to our cause when they learnt that we lost a rhino due to poaching last month and assisted with the safeguarding of the calf that was orphaned. Through this week’s operation they have also assisted us with ensuring all the rhino in the reserve are dehorned as a safety measure to poaching,” concluded Dr Roelie Kloppers, WILDLANDS Executive Director.
A huge thank you goes to On Safari Africa for transporting the media to and from King Shaka Airport. Project Rhino KZN, LoveAfrica Marketing, Wildlife ACT, Green Trust, Global Nature Fund (GNF), Ezemvelo KZN, Africa Conservation Trust and Emvokweni Community Trust for being our long term partners in conservation, protecting our heritage and fighting wildlife crime.
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)