![]() ![]() This is just one example of the cultural connection between these primordial creatures and the peoples of Africa. It was only the sanctity of a Royal Zulu hunting ground located between the white and black Imfolozi Rivers which kept this gene pool preserved. Then a handful of animals, less than 60, were found still surviving in an area which would become South Africa’s Hluhluwe-Imfolozi National Park. The southern white rhino, however, had been hunted in such numbers that by 1895 it was considered extinct. ![]() ![]() Though not as badly affected by game hunting, the black rhino did see a steep decline in numbers between the 1950s and 1990s when Africa lost 95% of these animals. ![]() To fully understand today’s poaching crisis it is important to look at the history of the rhino and its interactions with the human race.ĭuring the 19 th and early 20 th centuries, hunting for sport was extremely popular in Southern Africa, and this love of big game hunting took a heavy toll on both the white and black rhino. Unfortunately, the current poaching crisis isn’t an isolated incident, and the species has been brought to the brink of extinction before. Habitat loss and poaching for their horn are the two main causes of their recent decline. But if it goes according to plan, the rhinos would be housed on ranches in south or southwest Texas that can run in size to 100,000 acres-plus (40,000 ha-plus).Rhinos across the continent are facing the threat of extinction due to the actions of humans. Their health could be put in jeopardy by a long trip and airplanes can only move a handful at a time. They are typically darted in South Africa, and would then be transported by truck and shipped as air cargo. Most of the rhinos would be under three years old and younger animals would have to be fed milk by bottle. “Most of the rhinos that would be transferred are orphan, baby rhinos.” “There is a lot of red tape on both sides and there would be a need to quarantine the animals,” Seale said. The Second Ark Foundation, which has worked to preserve the African addax and the scimitar-horned Oryx, is working with South African wildlife organizations to handle the logistics. Africa has two different species of rhinos: white, which number about 20,000, and black, whose population is about 5,000, according to the website. South Africa is home to about 20,000 rhinos, but under the Texas plan, called Project 1,000, far fewer rhinos would likely be approved for export to the U.S. International crime syndicates are after rhino horns, which are used in traditional Asian medicine and sell at prices higher than gold to the newly affluent in places such as Vietnam, where a belief, with no scientific basis, exists that they can cure cancer. Rhino poaching hit a record in South Africa last year, home to almost all the rhinos in Africa, with 1,215 killed in 2014, according to South Africa’s Environment Ministry. “This is not for the faint of heart or for the faint of checkbook,” said Seale, head of the Texas-based Exotic Wildlife Association’s Second Ark Foundation, pointing out no public money will be sought for the effort, which is still in its early stages. That is if governments will let them and the Texans can afford a transportation bill that could run tens of millions of dollars, all paid for by private donations. Seale is part of an ambitious project organized by animal welfare groups in the United States and African countries to bring hundreds of orphaned baby southern white rhinos to the south Texas grasslands, whose climate and geography are similar to their native South African veld. A white rhinoceros and her calf walk in Pilanesberg National Park in South Africa's North West Province in this Apfile photo. ![]()
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