![]() International trade in rhino horn has been banned for years, but poachers can earn a huge amount of money from selling it on the black market. “I think the scourge of rhino poaching migrated South from the Northern parts of Africa where the rhino had been wiped out.” ![]() “The dynamic changed because international syndicates were becoming involved,” says Sawers. While the rangers here have long been trained to deal with bush meat hunters brandishing assegais (spears) and bush knives, poachers armed with guns was relatively new territory for them. ![]() “There’s a very high demand for it, and we are experiencing severe threats on our rhino population at the moment.”Īs a result, the 96,000-hectare park, the oldest proclaimed wildlife reserve in Africa, has found itself battling to protect the rhinos once again. “It’s worth a great deal of money,” adds Sawers. Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park has brought in advanced technology to protect southern white rhinos from poachers. Made entirely of keratin, a protein found in hair, fingernails and animal hooves, rhino horn has long been used as a traditional medicine ingredient in countries like China and Vietnam.īut it’s since reportedly become popular as among wealthy party goers in Asia. Unfortunately, a new threat emerged just under a decade ago, when poachers began targeting the rhinos for their horns. “It is a species which has huge importance in the conservation world.” “All southern rhino throughout the world, the gene pool comes from this park,” explains Richard Penn Sawers, park manager at HiP, known as the home of the rhinoceros species. However, by 2011, numbers had increased from fewer than 50 to over 17,000, mainly due to the work at HiP. In the late 19th century, the southern white rhino was on the brink of extinction due to game hunting. Today, most of these rhinos can trace their ancestry back to the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park (HiP) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Gestation lasts approximately 16 months, and mothers give birth to one calf every two to three years.The southern white rhino has been to the brink of extinction and back, but even as it continues to be under threat from poachers, it’s survival is largely thanks to the conservation work of one park. The Northern white rhino is extinct in the wild due to poaching and only two females remain in captivity, according to the International Rhino Foundation. ![]() The Southern white rhino is a subspecies. Some people think their name comes from a mispronunciation of the Afrikaans word "wyd" or the Dutch word "wijd" - referring to the animal's wide mouth. Rutan said the white rhino is the largest rhino species, and the third largest land animal behind the two species of elephants. Poachers pose the biggest threats to the rhinos, according to conservation organizations. White rhinos are classified as "near threatened" species. An estimated 19,000 to 21,000 white rhinos remain in the wild - mainly in Southern Africa. The rhinos are part of collaborative breeding programs that work to conserve the species and their genetic diversity in human care, Brandon Speeg, White Oak conservation director, previously has said. There have been 42 white rhinos born at the refuge over the years, said Stephanie Rutan, senior education specialist with the White Oak Conservation Foundation. It is respected as a global leader in conservation for innovative science, education, training, and collaborations. Owned by philanthropists Mark and Kimbra Walter, White Oak works to save endangered species and wild habitats worldwide. The refuge shelters more than 17 endangered species. Rhinos first came to the 17,000-acre wildlife refuge in 1984. White Oak is home to three of the five species of rhinos: white, black and Indian rhinos. "We can tell you that they are steadily growing, but it will be a few years before they reach their mothers’ size of nearly 4,000 pounds," they said in a public Facebook post celebrating the calves. The calves' caretakers couldn't convince the little ones to step on a scale but say white rhino calves can weigh at least 100 pounds at birth. Marys River in Yulee roughly 30 miles north of Jacksonville.Īs yet unnamed, the older calf was born to a female named Dubz, while the younger calf's mother is Ethel. A little bit rambunctious but also kind of shy, a pair of Southern white rhinos calves recently born at an internationally respected nonprofit wildlife refuge in Nassau County are thriving along with their mothers.īoth females, the calves were born two weeks apart in July at White Oak Conservation on the banks of the St.
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