Re-introduction efforts are under way for black rhinos in Zambia.
Five black rhinos – one male and four females – have headed home to Luangwa National Park in Zambia. The rhinos are from Hluhluwe-uMfolozi Park and the Ithala game reserve in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
The black rhinos’ journey is part of a re-introduction effort by the Zambia Wildlife Authority, SANParks and the Frankfurt Zoological Society’s North Luangwa Conservation Programme, with the help of DubeTrade Port and Worldwide Flight Services.
To ensure their safety, the rhinos will initially be kept in bomas and closely monitored while they adapt to their new surroundings.
Although Zambia once had the third largest rhino population in Africa, rampant poaching for rhino horn in the 1970s and 1980s decimated the species until the black rhino was considered regionally extinct in Zambia in the late 1990s.
Today, illegal killing of rhinos has re-surged to a 15-year high and has become a lucrative organized crime operation, driven by the demanding market for rhino horn in China and Vietnam. Despite scientific analysis confirming that rhino horn has no medicinal effect on humans, cultural superstitions throughout southeast and east Asia attribute “healing properties” to rhino horn.
Source: Air Cargo World
Photo via Air Cargo World
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