"Rhino Rewild": African Parks translocated 120 Southern white rhino to member reserves of the Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation (GKEPF)!

African Parks, a conservation NGO that manages 22 protected areas in partnership with 12 governments across Africa, has announced that it has successfully translocated 120 Southern white rhino to member reserves of the Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation (GKEPF) in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, South Africa. This translocation is the second move to happen under "Rhino Rewild", an ambitious plan to rewild 2,000 southern white rhino into secure protected areas in Africa over the next 10 years.
The rhino will not be released into the Kruger National Park itself, but into private game reserves along its western boundary, a consensus reached through collaboration, and expert inputs from Kruger National Park and South African National Parks (SANParks) counterparts. This strategic placement to private reserves bordering the Kruger National Park strengthens the rhino metapopulation and lays the groundwork for potential future collaboration as Kruger National Park continues its fight against poaching.

“The rhino will come in dehorned, which is a very effective way to decrease the poaching risk in this landscape. We’re at a point where this risk is well calculated,” says Markus Hofmeyr, wildlife vet and Director of the Rhino Recovery Fund. “This will be the first re-introduction of rhino into this landscape in about 50 years.” [src.]

The Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation (GKEPF), a registered non-profit organisation, was established in 2016 in direct response to the unprecedented rise in rhino poaching in the Greater Kruger. The area is home to the world’s largest wild rhino population and comprises more than 2.5 million hectares of unfenced wilderness. 

African Parks has officially launched the rewilding phase of "Rhino Rewild"!

African Parks, a conservation NGO that manages 22 protected areas in partnership with 12 governments across Africa, has announced that it has officially launched the rewilding phase of "Rhino Rewild", an ambitious plan to rewild 2,000 southern white rhino into secure protected areas in Africa over the next 10 years. The Munywana Conservancy in Northern KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, received 40 southern white rhino in support of the conservancy's successful conservation and community efforts. To achieve a successful outcome of this translocation, the animals' body condition and parasite adaptation will be closely monitored as they adjust to their new environment. In addition, the conservancy will implement its intensive security measures to ensure the safety of the 40 dehorned rhino.

The Munywana Conservancy, a collaboration of private and community landowners, is a protected wildlife conservation area in Northern KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, spanning 29,866 hectares. The conservancy has a proud history of successful conservation endeavours and groundbreaking research which have been instrumental to the protection of threatened species including rhino, cheetah, pangolin, lion and elephant.

African Parks to release 2,000 southern white rhino into the wild over the next 10 years!

African Parks, a conservation NGO that manages 22 protected areas in partnership with 12 governments across Africa, has announced that it will take over the 7,800 hectare "Platinum Rhino" site near Klerksdorp in South Africa's North West province from wealthy property developer turned conservationist/wildlife rancher/rhino breeder John Hume (81). The world’s largest private captive rhino breeding operation is home to over 2,000 southern white rhino, which is equivalent to 15% of the world's remaining wild population of southern white rhino. According to African Parks, it has one clear objective: to rewild these rhino over the next 10 years to well-managed and secure areas, establishing or supplementing strategic populations, thereby de-risking the future of the species. The breeding programme will be phased out and the project will end once all the rhino are released into the wild. This is one of the largest continent-wide rewilding endeavours to occur for any species.

John Hume's "Patinum Rhino" farm went up for auction on 26 April 2023 due to financial reasons, but did not receive any bids. On 04 August 2023, African Parks CEO Peter Fearnhead confirmed in a statement that his organisation had agreed to take over the farm and and all its rhinos – with the endorsement of the South African Government, which will support African Parks with technical and scientific advice, and the African Rhino Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

African Parks is a non-profit conservation organisation that takes on the responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of protected areas, in partnership with governments and local communities. African Parks manages 22 national parks and protected areas in 12 countries covering over 20 million hectares in Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

A new rhino species?

According to a new study based on genetic and physical research, the southern white rhino and the northern white rhino, typically considered as related subspecies, may in fact be entirely unique species.
If the scientific community accepts the researcher's arguments, the split into two unique species will have particularly severe implications for the conservation of the northern white rhino.
Only 8 northern white rhinos are currently confirmed to be alive, with four of these no longer being able to breed. The remaining four northern white rhinos, two female and two male, capable of saving the species are in a conservancy in Kenya where they are guarded around the clock.

From the Abstract of the study:

Results
Dental morphology and cranial anatomy clearly diagnosed the southern and northern forms. The differentiation was well supported by dental metrics, cranial growth and craniometry, and corresponded with differences in post-cranial skeleton, external measurements and external features. No distinctive differences were found in the limited descriptions of their behavior and ecology. Fossil history indicated the antiquity of the genus, dating back at least to early Pliocene and evolution into a number of diagnosable forms. The fossil skulls examined fell outside the two extant forms in the craniometric analysis. Genetic divergence between the two forms was consistent across both nuclear and mitochondrial genomes, and indicated a separation of over a million years.