(Posted 06th September 2023)
The white rhino is under extreme pressure across Africa as a result of poaching for their horns. Today, there are only approximately 15,000 animals left. The single largest remaining population is actually a private captive breeding operation “Platinum Rhino” situated in the North West Province of South Africa, which currently holds 2,000 southern white rhino.
As a result of financial stress, the operation was put up for auction on the 26th of April but did not receive any bids placing these rhino at serious risk of poaching and fragmentation, and ultimately being lost to conservation.
Given these 2,000 southern white rhino represent up to 15% of the total remaining wild population, African Parks was approached by the conservation, governmental and philanthropic sectors to find a solution. Considering this potential conservation crisis, as well as the opportunity to help secure the future for a species in decline, we began a long and complex due diligence process, and secured initial emergency funding from key funders, to make our solution real.
African Parks agreed to purchase the land, the equipment, and all 2,000 rhinos but with one, clear intent: to rewild these rhinos over the next ten years. Our vision is to translocate them to multiple well-managed protected areas across Africa, establishing or supplementing strategic populations, and helping to secure the future of the species.
The rationale to be the custodians of this rhino population was two-fold. Firstly, African Parks has spent the last 20 years creating the safe places required to reverse species declines and allow nature to thrive. The second is the moral imperative of being in the unique position to ensure these rhinos become a real asset in the long-term conservation of the species, and at a continental scale. Once rewilded, they will again contribute to ecosystems by providing nutrient cycling, storing carbon, and increasing tourism revenue for local people. The benefits of their rewilding during the most critical decade for conservation is an opportunity we have to make real.
The scale of this undertaking is simply enormous, especially the rewilding element. We will be working with multiple Governments and other conservation organisations across the continent that are also ensuring there are secure, well managed areas to establish strategic populations.
Announcing the sale and our vision is only the first step. Announcing the sale and our vision is only the first step. We have years of hard work ahead of us, including maintaining the highest level of security for the sanctuary, carrying out risky translocations over the coming years, and facing known and unknown challenges, all while continuing our core work of creating safe wild spaces across Africa.
To build resilience, we first have to protect what we already have. We have a healthy population of 2,000 rhino that can and will make a real contribution to the resilience of this species and the ecosystems to which they belong across the continent. It is our prerogative, as African Parks, to see to it that that is done. The responsibility and scale of what we are undertaking is sobering, but I am cautiously optimistic, and believe that with your support we can make this a success.
Sincerely,
Peter Fearnhead
CEO
African Parks
