WWF South Africa’s Black Rhino Range Expansion Project (BRREP) has reached a new milestone with over 400 rhinos recorded across its project sites since 2003. This number includes all rhinos moved to new sites and their offspring (and in some cases, second and third generation offspring).
With fewer than 6 500 black rhinos left in the world, this means BRREP has facilitated custodianship of 16% of the South African population across 17 sites.
BRREP began as a three-year project with the goal of establishing one, perhaps two, black rhino populations of 20 rhinos each. In those early days, nobody envisioned that the project would still be running 22 years later, now in its eight three-year phase, with over 400 rhinos in its metapopulation (spread across several sites).
Black rhino were once widely distributed across Africa but the population plunged from an estimated 100 000 in the 1960s to fewer than 2 500 by the mid-1990s because of poaching and habitat loss. Since then, through intensive protection and expansion work, like that carried out by BRREP, official black rhino numbers have increased to over 6 400.
South Africa remains a stronghold for this species but among threats that remain are poaching and a shortage of space for them to breed and thrive. This is why it is essential to increase numbers of these critically endangered animals as quickly as possible.
As part of a long-term strategy, BRREP works to diversify the gene pool and increase the growth rate and numbers of the species, working with private and community landowners as well as government organisations such as Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency to identify large blocks of land on which to establish new black rhino populations.
The project facilitates partnerships with landowners with good black rhino habitat for creating new breeding populations. This often involves encouraging neighbouring landowners to remove the internal fences between them. The consolidation of habitat into ecologically viable blocks also helps other species at risk, such as wild dogs, vultures and cheetahs, all of which need large tracts of land to thrive.BRREP coordinates the translocation of groups of up to 20 rhinos at a time to these new sites.
WWF has been involved with conserving African rhinos, black and white, since the 1960s.
Jeff Cooke, Rhino Conservation Manager with WWF South Africa, comments: “400 black rhinos across our project sites is an exciting milestone that demonstrates the success and effectiveness of BRREP and its contribution to black rhino conservation. Translocating black rhinos to new areas is the first step towards population growth. To keep these populations healthy and growing, ongoing management such as moving rhinos for genetic reasons is important. This is what has made BRREP so successful, the translocations and the subsequent long-term management of these new populations.”