Central SA
White rhinos successfully translocated from Klerksdorp─── ZENANDE MPAME 08:00 Tue, 12 Nov 2024
A group of white rhinos were successfully translocated from a farm in Klerksdorp to the Dinokeng Game Reserve in Gauteng.
The recent translocation was done on Wednesday (5/11), and is the third rhino translocation carried out this year by African Parks.
Non-governmental organisation (NGO) African Parks manages national parks and protected areas on behalf of governments and communities across Africa. The NGO aims to translocate 2,000 southern white rhinos to secure protected areas across Africa.
“To ensure the long-term success of the translocated southern white rhinos, a complete security assessment is done on the property. We also look at the number of anti-poaching rangers they have, technology, and aerial support surveillance,” said WeWild Africa managing director Dereck Milburn.
“Anywhere in South Africa, you’ve got a risk of poaching, so it’s not that we are saying Dinokeng is 110% fail-proof because no property in the country is. However, we have done everything we could to ensure the longevity of the rhinos we brought there.”
The Dinokeng Game Reserve is a South African wildlife reserve and is the only Big Five reserve in a metropolitan area worldwide. The reserve has been successful in its rhino translocation as they have black and white rhinos, and they haven’t had a poaching incident in several years.
The process of loading the rhinos into crates, then trucks. Photo: African Parks
African Parks manages 22 protected areas in 12 countries covering over 20 million hectares in Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Sudan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
African Parks’ main objectives include supplementing populations within South Africa and establishing new populations outside of Africa. “There are several things that go into this, like the permit process, security measures, disease control, and veterinary monitoring.”
Milburn said they’ve never had a security issue when transporting rhinos. “When we’re transporting rhinos we have a full security team with us, including fully armed personnel with helicopters flying overhead to make sure the rhinos are safe.”
