A project to reintroduce rhinos back into Tanzania will begin this Friday when the first 6 will be relocated from South Africa in what will be one of the largest ever translocations.

In all a total of 32 black rhino will be returned to the Tanzanian Serengeti after their ancestors were captured in East Africa in 1961 to protect them from poachers. There are estimated to be only 700 black rhinos left in the world, and the animals being taken to Tanzania  are eastern black rhinos, the most endangered of the three remaining sub-species.

Partnership

The project will be carried out over 2-3 years and is a result of a partnership between the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa), Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (Tawiri) and South African National Parks (SANParks).   Frankfurt  Zoological Society (FZS) is another collaborator and will facilitate technical expertise in security precautions, logistics, translocations, release and monitoring.

Linked

The 32 rhino will be introduced as a new sub-population and will be create linked to another population of eastern black rhino in the area. Currently there are fewer than 70 eastern black rhino in Tanzania.

They are genetically the same breed that was taken to South Africa because even in their new home they were separated from other parks.”  Said Ms Laura Hartstone of the FZS.

“The re-introduction will bolster the transnational Serengeti-Mara population, making it the largest free-ranging population of eastern black rhinos,”

Reintroduced into the Wild

Rhinos have been moved into Tanzania in the past, last year several were re-located from the Czech Republic and prior to that rhinos have been moved from South Africa and reintroduced into the wild.

Big Costs

The cost of these re-introductions is estimated to be huge and staff at Ngorogoro who currently have 24 rhinos cite this as a real hindrance to bringing in rhino from outside.  With some estimating it costs $100,000 to fly each individual from South Africa through Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) and transport it 200 kilometres to Ngorongoro it is a highly costly venture..

GPS Protection

Each of the 24 rhino at Ngorongoro has a GPS tracking system attached to protect the animal from poachers who hunt the animal for its horn, considered an aphrodisiac in Asia. As a result of poaching Africa’s black rhino population has plummeted by 90% over the last 40 years from numbers of around 60,000 rhinos in 1970.
Due to vigiliant security measures and active management within the protected areas the number of black rhino in Africa has now grown to over 4,200. It is hoped that moving the rhinos to Tanzania will further strengthen efforts to conserve the species which continues to be threatened by poachers.

WWF work tirelessly to ensure that species like the Black Rhino are not allowed to become extinct. If you adopt a rhino with WWF you can help them to continue their great work with these animals arund the world.