New home for SA rhinos

OFF TO CHAD: PLEDGE BY ZUMA AFTER POACHING WIPED OUT SPECIES IN 1972

Dedicated teams of rangers will keep close eye on latest inhabitants.

A2013 pledge by Jacob Zuma saw six rare black rhinos translocated this week to a country ranked one of the most corrupt on the continent, immersed in political turmoil, and where rhino went extinct in 1972 because of poaching.

“By establishing a viable and secure population of rhinos in Chad, we are contributing to the expansion of the rhino population in Africa, and the survival of a species that has faced high levels of poaching for the past decade,” said Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa.

Department of environmental affairs spokesperson Albi Sachs said the translocation of black rhinos was achieved through a collaboration between the department of environmental affairs, Chad, SANParks and the African Parks Foundation.

“The rhinos were translocated to the Zakouma National Park, which has experienced a dramatic decrease in poaching since 2010, with the local elephant population increasing for the first time in more than a decade,” Sachs said.

Chad joins a long list of beneficiaries of African countries from South Africa, which has faced an onslaught of rhino poaching.

Black rhinos have been translocated by SANParks to Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, and Rwanda, while white rhinos were moved to Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Mozambique.

“Rhinos have also been translocated to Kenya and Swaziland by South Africa,” Sachs said.

African Parks has also had huge hurdles to overcome.

“In addition to rhinos becoming locally extinct in 1972, poaching also decimated the park’s elephant population. In 2002, Zakouma was home to more than 4 000 elephants but by 2010, after an eight-year onslaught of poaching for their tusks, only 450 remained.

“However, the park was transformed when African Parks, in partnership with the government of Chad, assumed management in 2010. We overhauled law enforcement and worked closely with the local communities to protect the park,” a statement on the organisation’s website states.

African Parks spokesperson Fran Read told Saturday Citizen the elephants had dedicated teams of rangers which kept a close eye on them, and the same protection would be afforded to the country’s new guests.

But Chad was struggling with a jihadist insurgency, which had spilled over from neighbouring Nigeria. –

Pictures: Neil McCartney EN ROUTE. Rhinos destined for Chad at the rhino bomas in Addo Elephant National Park near Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. Six black rhinos have been transported to Chad to help the country recover their population of rhinos after years of civil war.