Four orphaned black rhinos were released into Babanango Game Reserve in KwaZulu Natal (KZN), making history by being ‘a world’s first attempt to establish a new population from all orphaned animals,’ reports TimesLive.
The rhinos were orphaned between the ages of two months and two years old, and have lived under the care of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife for several years.
Black Rhino Range Expansion Project (BRREP) is ‘a partnership between Ezemvelo and World Wildlife Fund.’ They began in 2003 ‘to address a concern that our black rhino growth rate was declining,’ working to increase the growth rate of black rhinos. BRREP, Wildlife Act, and Conservation Outcomes worked together to relocate the rhinos into Babanango Game Reserve and needed to airlift some of the animals due to the difficult terrain.
The rhinos were sedated until arriving at the reserve and were then given the antidote to the anesthetic. ‘As the rhino awoke, they began to explore their surroundings, One of the males soon asserted his dominance on one of the others – a positive sign.’
Jeffery Cooke, Head of Game Capture at Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife said that ‘the symbolism of this event cannot be overstated, the successful release of these four black rhino that, under any other circumstances would have been lost to the species, is a strong testament to the determination and commitment of not only the staff at the game capture facility who spent thousands of hours caring for them, but also to the many donors and funders, some of them just school children, who gave willingly to ensure that these animals were given a chance. The message is clear: we need to remain committed and united as a province to the task of saving this iconic species, even if it is one animal at a time.’
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