Farmed rhinos will soon 'rewild' the African savanna
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Monday, September 25, 2023
So, in case you missed it, a new report has bad news for Earth’s five surviving species of rhino.
Key Points:
- So, in case you missed it, a new report has bad news for Earth’s five surviving species of rhino.
- While we should never become desensitised to wildlife crime, environmental destruction and species extinctions, there is also some remarkable news.
- Conservation charity African Parks recently bought the largest private collection of rhino in the world: the Platinum Rhino farm at Klerksdorp, near Johannesburg in South Africa, previously owned by South African businessman John Hume.
- Hume continued to expand his private rhino farm and used his increasing rhino population as leverage in his calls for legalisation.
Into the wild
- A number of years ago I was involved in what was, at the time, the largest private translocation of rhino.
- The team I worked with moved tens of rhino; the African Parks mission is a lot bigger.
- African Parks manages an area of 20 million hectares spread across 22 national parks and protected areas over 12 countries.
- In the meantime, the farmed rhino need to be prepared to cope with the stress of translocation and release, and for a wild life.
- Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue.