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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/black-rhino/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on Black Rhino</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/black-rhino/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Rhino-poaching suspect, repeatedly freed on bail, shot dead in South Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/rhino-poaching-suspect-repeatedly-freed-on-bail-shot-dead-in-south-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/rhino-poaching-suspect-repeatedly-freed-on-bail-shot-dead-in-south-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 May 2026 02:29:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Spoorthy Raman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/22135805/Harry-Skeggs-on-assignment-with-Saving-the-Wild-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319992</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Poaching, Rhinos, White Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A former South African police officer who became a notorious alleged rhino-poaching kingpin has been killed by unknown gunmen, police announced. Joseph “Big Joe” Nyalungu was shot dead at his office in the town of Mkhuhlu, near Kruger National Park, at around 2:30 p.m. on May 16, according to authorities. It was the second attempt [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A former South African police officer who became a notorious alleged rhino-poaching kingpin has been killed by unknown gunmen, police announced. Joseph “Big Joe” Nyalungu was shot dead at his office in the town of Mkhuhlu, near Kruger National Park, at around 2:30 p.m. on May 16, according to authorities. It was the second attempt on his life in eight days. He survived the first attack despite being reportedly shot in the shoulder, stomach and thigh. Nyalungu, 62, faced multiple charges related to rhino poaching and trafficking, kidnapping and murder, as well as money laundering and unlawful possession of firearms and explosives. He was arrested at least five times between 2010 and 2024, though he was never convicted of any crimes during that time. His latest arrest came in October 2024, when police found explosives in his offices. At the time of his death, he was reportedly out on bail of 20,000 rand (about $1,140 at the exchange rate at the time), with investigations into his alleged illegal activities ongoing. Police said they haven’t identified the gunmen and are still investigating the motive behind the killing. Nyalungu was declared dead at the scene. Conservationists say the only way to save rhinos from is by creating stronger deterrents through tougher sentences for poaching and trafficking. Image by Thomas D. Mangelsen. ‘Too kind of a death’ Nyalungu was accused of poaching rhinos in the Greater Kruger Area, said Jamie Joseph, director of the South African NGO Saving the Wild. Joseph has tracked&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/rhino-poaching-suspect-repeatedly-freed-on-bail-shot-dead-in-south-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/rhino-poaching-suspect-repeatedly-freed-on-bail-shot-dead-in-south-africa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319992</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Namibian conservancies fight to block mining threat to rhinos</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/namibia-legal-actions-seek-halt-to-mining-in-rhino-conservancies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/namibia-legal-actions-seek-halt-to-mining-in-rhino-conservancies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Dec 2024 10:50:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/02103607/SRT-Rhino5-Marcus-Westberg-Photography-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291007</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Namibia, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Governance, Mining, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Rhinos, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When a copper mine started operating in Namibia’s //Huab Conservancy in 2021, blasting of rock and heavy machinery disturbed the area’s critically endangered southern black rhinos, and they moved out of the area. When mining activity was temporarily stopped in early 2022 due to investment problems, the rhinos returned. Two other conservancies referred to this [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When a copper mine started operating in Namibia’s //Huab Conservancy in 2021, blasting of rock and heavy machinery disturbed the area’s critically endangered southern black rhinos, and they moved out of the area. When mining activity was temporarily stopped in early 2022 due to investment problems, the rhinos returned. Two other conservancies referred to this as they filed an urgent interdict to try to block a new open-pit tin mine in the northwestern Kunene region. The Uibasen Twyfelfontein Conservancy and the Doro !Nawas Conservancy, alongside tourism operator Ultimate Safaris, say they’re concerned that if the mine goes ahead, what happened in //Huab — confirmed in a mapping report commissioned by the Namibian Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism from Save the Rhino Trust Namibia — will happen again in their jointly managed conservation area. The mining-related displacement of black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) in //Huab resulted in Ultimate Safaris shutting down its camp and the conservancy losing its sole source of income. The first signs of disturbance by the proposed new mine have already become apparent, said Uibasen conservancy manager Laurensia //Naobes. “There used to be a quiet riverbed where the mining is happening, with different wildlife like antelopes, ostriches, springboks. They moved out because of the human disturbance,” she told Mongabay by phone. She said they’re seeing the black rhinos becoming stressed and starting to move away. “The rhino population in the western Kunene region is not huge, but is considered a key-1 population by IUCN, which means it’s over&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/namibia-legal-actions-seek-halt-to-mining-in-rhino-conservancies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/namibia-legal-actions-seek-halt-to-mining-in-rhino-conservancies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291007</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Not just polar bears — climate change could push African rhinos to extinction</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/not-just-polar-bears-climate-change-could-push-african-rhinos-to-extinction/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/not-just-polar-bears-climate-change-could-push-african-rhinos-to-extinction/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Mar 2024 15:06:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anna Dulisse]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/14150148/White-rhino-South-Africa-098a_photo-credit-International-Rhino-Foundation-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279844</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Black Rhino, Climate Change, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Fellows, Mammals, Rhinos, White Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[New research is ringing alarm bells about how climate change may impact one of Africa’s most iconic and vulnerable animals: the rhinoceros. “Climate change has the potential of wiping out all of them in the blink of an eye,” says Hlelolwenkhosi Mamba, an Eswatini native and Fulbright scholar. Mamba and Timothy Randhir, from the University [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[New research is ringing alarm bells about how climate change may impact one of Africa’s most iconic and vulnerable animals: the rhinoceros. “Climate change has the potential of wiping out all of them in the blink of an eye,” says Hlelolwenkhosi Mamba, an Eswatini native and Fulbright scholar. Mamba and Timothy Randhir, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, spent two years obtaining climate modeling and rhino GPS coordinates in five national parks across Southern Africa to understand how two different climate change scenarios might impact the bulk of the world’s remaining black (Diceros bicornis) and white (Ceratotherium simum) rhinos, the two rhino species found in Africa. White rhino, Kruger National Park (South Africa). Image by Rhett Butler/Mongabay. Rhinos, unable to sweat through their super-thick skin, rely on nature for survival, requiring shade trees, mud pits and watering holes to regulate their body temperature. Climate change threatens these vital features, making them scarcer and altering rhino behaviors and population dynamics. In a paper published in January, Mamba and Randhir write that hotter temperatures and increasingly water-starved landscapes will lead to the rhinos stress eating and spending more time escaping the heat, affecting their access to food, water and shade. This will also likely send them into areas with more humans and conflict. On top of the ongoing risk of poaching, these climate change influences could drive rhinos to extinction in these parks by the end of the 21st century, the researchers warn. “People think that rhinoceroses are very strong and robust&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/not-just-polar-bears-climate-change-could-push-african-rhinos-to-extinction/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/not-just-polar-bears-climate-change-could-push-african-rhinos-to-extinction/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279844</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Black rhinos moved to Kenya’s Loisaba Conservancy as species recovers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/black-rhinos-moved-to-kenyas-loisaba-conservancy-as-species-recovers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/black-rhinos-moved-to-kenyas-loisaba-conservancy-as-species-recovers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Feb 2024 00:01:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Graeme Green]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/12153339/Courtesy-San-Diego-Zoo-Wildlife-AllianceStill2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278769</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Poaching, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Rhinos, Solutions, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Twenty-one critically endangered black rhinos have been safely delivered to Loisaba Conservancy in northern Kenya from other parts of the country, part of a wider mission to secure the long-term future of the species in Kenya. “It’s been a massive operation,” says Tom Silvester, CEO of Loisaba Conservancy, who oversaw the process. “It’s incredible to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Twenty-one critically endangered black rhinos have been safely delivered to Loisaba Conservancy in northern Kenya from other parts of the country, part of a wider mission to secure the long-term future of the species in Kenya. “It’s been a massive operation,” says Tom Silvester, CEO of Loisaba Conservancy, who oversaw the process. “It’s incredible to see black rhinos back in Loisaba after an absence of 50 years.” Wildlife translocations are usually driven by a need to create new breeding strongholds and return native species to locations where they’ve gone locally extinct. But the primary motivation in this case is the fact that Kenya’s 16 black rhino sanctuaries are running out of space — a sign of a remarkable turnaround in the country. Two flatbed trucks carrying rhinos and a police escort vehicle wind through the hills of Loisaba Conservancy to where the animals will be released. Image ©&#xfe0f; Lewa Wildlife Conservancy/Jeff DeKock. Four decades ago, black rhinos were on the brink of extinction in Kenya, with numbers down from around 20,000 in the 1970s to fewer than 300 in the mid-1980s. According to the last count, in December 2023, there are now an estimated 1,004 black rhinos, with the government aiming to have 2,000 by 2037. “After the big poaching crashes that brought rhinos right down, we’ve reached a point where sanctuaries on government or private land are on or above their ecological carrying capacity,” Silvester told Mongabay. “They’re overcrowded. Overcrowding means you get territorial fighting, bulls killing other bulls,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/black-rhinos-moved-to-kenyas-loisaba-conservancy-as-species-recovers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/black-rhinos-moved-to-kenyas-loisaba-conservancy-as-species-recovers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278769</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Namibian community protects its rhinos from poaching but could lose them to mining</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/namibian-community-protects-its-rhinos-from-poaching-but-could-lose-them-to-mining/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/namibian-community-protects-its-rhinos-from-poaching-but-could-lose-them-to-mining/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Mar 2023 21:09:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/03/13185113/BlackRhino_HuabConservancy_UltimateSafaris-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=266409</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Namibia, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Black Rhino, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Rhinos, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A community conservancy in Namibia says it plans to sue the country’s environment minister if he fails to act against a copper mine operating in an area exclusively reserved for tourism. In an open letter released in February, the //Huab Conservancy’s Management Committee criticized Minister Pohamba Shifeta for granting an environmental clearance certificate (ECC) to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A community conservancy in Namibia says it plans to sue the country’s environment minister if he fails to act against a copper mine operating in an area exclusively reserved for tourism. In an open letter released in February, the //Huab Conservancy’s Management Committee criticized Minister Pohamba Shifeta for granting an environmental clearance certificate (ECC) to the miner, a Namibian individual, stating that &#8220;rhinos, local jobs, and our conservancy have been imperiled by this groundless, uninformed, and reckless decision.&#8221; According to Emma Gomes, chairperson of the conservancy, the mine has prompted the local population of black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) to migrate, hurting the community’s income as well as the conservation program it runs. Located in the Kunene region in the country’s northwest, the //Huab Conservancy is one of 13 community conservancies in the area registered under Namibia’s Community-Based Natural Resources Management program. The CBNRM initiative was initiated by the government in the late 1990s to give local communities legal rights over the management of their land and its natural resources. The //Huab Conservancy is one of 13 community conservation areas in the Kunene region. Image by Jeffrey Hanadaob and John Ellis Aibeb &#8220;The rhino population in the western Kunene region is not huge, but is considered a key-1 population by IUCN, which means it’s over 100 individuals,&#8221; said Andrew Malherbe, chief operating officer of Save the Rhino Trust (SRT), an organization that monitors and collects data on black rhinos in support of conservancies in the country’s northwest. The //Huab Conservancy’s letter&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/namibian-community-protects-its-rhinos-from-poaching-but-could-lose-them-to-mining/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/namibian-community-protects-its-rhinos-from-poaching-but-could-lose-them-to-mining/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-266409</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bull run: South Africa marks latest rhino relocation to boost populations</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/bull-run-south-africa-marks-latest-rhino-relocation-to-boost-populations/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/bull-run-south-africa-marks-latest-rhino-relocation-to-boost-populations/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 May 2022 18:00:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/05/09174655/20220414-_Ween_BREP_CaseyPratt_LoveAfricaMarketingDSC_9530-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=255610</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Black Rhino, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Endangered Species, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Northern White Rhino, Poaching, Rhinos, Species, White Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Conservationists in South Africa have translocated four young black rhinoceros bulls to the Bonamanzi Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal province, in an effort to preserve the population’s genetics and expand safe space for them to grow. The black rhinos (Diceros bicornis), listed as critically endangered by the IUCN, were moved to the privately owned Bonamanzi from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Conservationists in South Africa have translocated four young black rhinoceros bulls to the Bonamanzi Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal province, in an effort to preserve the population’s genetics and expand safe space for them to grow. The black rhinos (Diceros bicornis), listed as critically endangered by the IUCN, were moved to the privately owned Bonamanzi from Weenen Nature Reserve and Ithala Game Reserve, both managed by the provincial conservation authority, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. “Black rhinos are very much at risk, which is why the breeding of these animals at smaller reserves like Weenen Nature Reserve is an important part of the population dynamic and the overall conservation of the species,” said Frik Lemmer, conservation manager at the Weenen Reserve, in a statement announcing the translocation as part of the Black Rhino Range Expansion Project (BRREP). “We have a resident breeding bull on Weenen, and that animal should not be challenged in any way by other bulls on a property this size. It could lead to fighting, breakouts, and even the possible death of one of the animals.” Black rhino during translocation. The bulls were dehorned to make them less attractive to poachers. Image by Casey Pratt / Love Africa Marketing. These younger rhinos had reached maturity, and translocating them will help to expand and strengthen breeding opportunities for the threatened species in the province as a whole. Save the Rhino International says that between 1970 and 1992, black rhino numbers fell from nearly 40,000 to just 2,400, due to poaching driven&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/bull-run-south-africa-marks-latest-rhino-relocation-to-boost-populations/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/bull-run-south-africa-marks-latest-rhino-relocation-to-boost-populations/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-255610</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Translocation brings white rhinos to Rwanda, a new land for an old species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/translocation-brings-white-rhinos-to-rwanda-a-new-land-for-an-old-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/translocation-brings-white-rhinos-to-rwanda-a-new-land-for-an-old-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Dec 2021 15:17:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elizabeth Claire Alberts]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Elizabethalberts]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/06132249/White-rhino-released-into-Akagera-Rwanda-%C2%A9-Gael-Vande-Weghe-African-Parks-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250240</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Rwanda, and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Black Rhino, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Endangered Species, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Northern White Rhino, Poaching, Rhinos, Species, Tracking, White Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Traveling these days isn’t easy. When it involves moving 30 rhinos by air across a continent, it gets even trickier. “Anything can change in seconds,” Jes Gruner, Rwanda regional operations manager, told Mongabay in a phone interview. “The aircraft charter delayed us by eight hours, unfortunately, due to technical issues. We already had the rhinos [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Traveling these days isn’t easy. When it involves moving 30 rhinos by air across a continent, it gets even trickier. “Anything can change in seconds,” Jes Gruner, Rwanda regional operations manager, told Mongabay in a phone interview. “The aircraft charter delayed us by eight hours, unfortunately, due to technical issues. We already had the rhinos in the crates … but the team got together and sorted it very quickly.” A delayed flight was just one of many challenges. Before the rhinos even got on the plane, Gruner and his team had worked for years to organize their translocation from South Africa to Rwanda, and recently battled COVID-19-related delays and setbacks. Then they had to figure out how to safely sedate the animals and get them into crates on a tight schedule. And once they arrived in Rwanda, the rhinos had to be loaded onto trucks and driven another six hours to Akagera National Park, a 1,120-square-kilometer (430-square-mile) stretch of wetlands, woodlands and savannas. But when the trucks drove the 30 rhinos into the park on Nov. 29, Gruner knew the toil and stress had paid off. “It’s a good feeling,” Gruner said. “When you&#8217;re driving through the communities, and they&#8217;re welcoming the rhinos and &#8230; showing they&#8217;re committed to conservation, it just makes all the work feel worthwhile. That’s a human-to-human feeling, but I wish the rhinos could feel that, too, because they are coming to a place where they truly are welcome.” A rhino crate being lifted by crane&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/translocation-brings-white-rhinos-to-rwanda-a-new-land-for-an-old-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/translocation-brings-white-rhinos-to-rwanda-a-new-land-for-an-old-species/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250240</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘A leap of faith’: Q&#038;A with Robin Radcliffe on airlifting rhinos upside down</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/a-leap-of-faith-qa-with-robin-radcliffe-on-airlifting-rhinos-upside-down/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/a-leap-of-faith-qa-with-robin-radcliffe-on-airlifting-rhinos-upside-down/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Nov 2021 13:28:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/11/10125042/Rhino-Hanging-upsidedown-africa-Namibia-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=249286</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Namibia, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Black Rhino, Charismatic Animals, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Interviews, Mammals, Rhinos, Transportation, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Rhinos aren’t built for flight. Robin Radcliffe, a veterinarian at Cornell University with several decades of experience taking care of rhinos, is well aware of this. So when Namibia, one of the places where he works, decided to move critically endangered black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) hanging upside down from helicopters, he had one question: Is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Rhinos aren’t built for flight. Robin Radcliffe, a veterinarian at Cornell University with several decades of experience taking care of rhinos, is well aware of this. So when Namibia, one of the places where he works, decided to move critically endangered black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) hanging upside down from helicopters, he had one question: Is that OK? Images of the brawny beasts, precariously poised at the precipice of extinction, swinging off helicopters grabbed eyeballs and boggled minds. The research also swept the Ig Nobel&#8217;s selection committee off its feet. Radcliffe&#8217;s team won this year in the “transportation” category. The satirical take on the prestigious Nobel prizes celebrates science at its quirky best. Or, as the organizers say, &#8220;achievements that make people laugh, then think.&#8221; Turns out there’s a lot to think about. A desert-adapted subspecies of the black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis bicornis) being translocated in the Kunene Region of Namibia. Image courtesy of Namibian Ministry of the Environment, Forestry, and Tourism. Using helicopters to transport animals isn’t novel, but hanging them by their feet is. For decades, conservation organizations, especially in Africa, have resorted to translocation to repopulate “empty” parks with iconic species like rhinos, elephants and lions. But the practice has a checkered record as a conservation tool. One paper describes it as a &#8220;high-cost endeavor with a history of failures.&#8221; The success of translocations in safeguarding the species and benefiting the ecosystems where animals are resettled depends on many factors, including animal behavior, proper monitoring, and community support.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/a-leap-of-faith-qa-with-robin-radcliffe-on-airlifting-rhinos-upside-down/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/a-leap-of-faith-qa-with-robin-radcliffe-on-airlifting-rhinos-upside-down/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-249286</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Low genetic diversity is part of rhinos’ long-term history, study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/low-genetic-diversity-is-part-of-rhinos-long-term-history-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/low-genetic-diversity-is-part-of-rhinos-long-term-history-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Aug 2021 10:35:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Carolyncowan]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/08/31090616/Paleoartist-illustration-see-caption-above-CREDIT-Beth-Zaiken-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=246556</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, India, Indonesia, Nepal, siberia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Captive Breeding, Conservation, DNA, Endangered Species, Environment, Evolution, Extinction, Genetics, Javan Rhinos, Mammals, One-horned Rhinos, Research, Rhinos, Sumatran Rhino, White Rhino, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have debated the evolution of the world’s five living rhinoceros species ever since Charles Darwin addressed the question in a treatise in the mid-1800s, predating On the Origin of Species. Three main schools of thought prevail. The “horn hypothesis” suggests that rhinos with two horns evolved separately from those with only one horn; this [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have debated the evolution of the world’s five living rhinoceros species ever since Charles Darwin addressed the question in a treatise in the mid-1800s, predating On the Origin of Species. Three main schools of thought prevail. The “horn hypothesis” suggests that rhinos with two horns evolved separately from those with only one horn; this groups Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) with the two African species, the black rhino (Diceros bicornis) and the white rhino (Ceratotherium simum), all of which have two horns. The “geographical hypothesis” sets the two African species apart from the three Asian species: the Sumatran rhino, the Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus), and the greater one-horned rhino (R. unicornis) that lives in India and Nepal. A third proposal is that the uniquely small and hairy Sumatran rhino, the only Asian species with two horns, is in an entirely separate group from the other four species. Now, an international team of scientists has shed light on the mystery. By analyzing the genomes of the five living rhino species and three that went extinct during the last Ice Age, they found strong evidence that the rhino tree of life branches according to geographic region, not by number of horns. The two African species diverged from the three Asian species roughly 16 million years ago, according to the findings recently published in Cell. All five living rhino species have suffered significant population declines due to decades of habitat loss and poaching. Many populations are now small and isolated with low genetic&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/low-genetic-diversity-is-part-of-rhinos-long-term-history-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/low-genetic-diversity-is-part-of-rhinos-long-term-history-study-says/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-246556</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>On World Rhino Day, looking back on an eventful year</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/on-world-rhino-day-looking-back-on-an-eventful-year/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/on-world-rhino-day-looking-back-on-an-eventful-year/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Sep 2019 08:39:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/11/08151356/indonesia_160535-banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=222720</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Javan Rhinos, Mammals, One-horned Rhinos, Rhinos, Sumatran Rhino, White Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[DFFF2019N - AR]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[September 22 marks World Rhino Day, a global event established to celebrate the world&#8217;s five rhinoceros species, as well as to reflect on the challenges facing them. Of the five rhino species living in Africa and Asia, three are listed by the IUCN as Critically Endangered: Javan Rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus), Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[September 22 marks World Rhino Day, a global event established to celebrate the world&#8217;s five rhinoceros species, as well as to reflect on the challenges facing them. Of the five rhino species living in Africa and Asia, three are listed by the IUCN as Critically Endangered: Javan Rhinos (Rhinoceros sondaicus), Sumatran rhinos (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) and black rhinos (Diceros bicornis). Meanwhile, White rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) are considered near threatened, and greater one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis) vulnerable to extinction. The year that has elapsed since World Rhino Day 2018 has been a momentous one for rhinos and for the people working to protect them. Regardless of its conservation status, each species faces dangers ranging from poaching to tsunamis to overcrowding in protected areas. But it&#8217;s not all bad news, with conservation efforts sparking an upturn in numbers for several species and subspecies. Even in the most seemingly desperate cases, small victories can be found, such as the relaunch of a captive breeding program in Sumatra. Here, we look back at Mongabay&#8217;s coverage of some of the biggest stories. A southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) in South Africa. White rhinos have recovered from near extinction in the early 1900s to around 18,000 today, but are threatened by a poaching crisis. The northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), however, hovers on the brink of extinction with just two individual females known to survive. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. China rescinds, then reinstates, rhino horn ban The Chinese government announced on Oct. 29, 2018&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/on-world-rhino-day-looking-back-on-an-eventful-year/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/on-world-rhino-day-looking-back-on-an-eventful-year/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-222720</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New film details wrenching impact of illegal rhino horn trade on families</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/new-film-details-wrenching-impact-of-illegal-rhino-horn-trade-on-a-family/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/new-film-details-wrenching-impact-of-illegal-rhino-horn-trade-on-a-family/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jun 2019 07:32:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/06/27024943/SOAH_Still2.ab752f419bb0477492f66ff8ddf36bbe-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=219865</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, China, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Black Rhino, Conservation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Film, Global Environmental Crisis, Insects, Mammals, Natural Capital, Natural Resources, Parks, Poaching, Politics, Protected Areas, Rhinos, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Traditional Chinese Medicine, White Rhino, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Communities around the world often pay a hidden toll in the global wildlife trade. Across its 17 minutes, Sides of a Horn, a new film released June 25, aims to capture that part of the illegal trade. The story takes place in South Africa. No country, we are reminded, has a larger rhino population — [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Communities around the world often pay a hidden toll in the global wildlife trade. Across its 17 minutes, Sides of a Horn, a new film released June 25, aims to capture that part of the illegal trade. The story takes place in South Africa. No country, we are reminded, has a larger rhino population — or a greater gap between the wealthy and poor. When a rhino approaches the national park boundary near an impoverished township, the stark choice it presents threatens to tear a family apart. Dumi, played by South African actor Welile Nzuza, is a wildlife ranger in the park, and he’s waiting for his salary to pay for medical treatment that his ailing sister, Lindiwe, played by Dimpho Motloung, desperately needs. But her husband, Sello, played by Sherldon Marema, is sure that a week will be too long, and he wants to go after the rhino. Its horn could fetch $3,000, setting up a confrontation between the two men. “I know the lives of my people are more valuable than the lives of wild animals,” Sello tells Dumi in Zulu, the language spoken throughout much of the film. But Dumi reminds Sello that the loss of another rhino means more resources flowing out of their country. On the international market, the filmmakers point out, the horn might be worth $300,000. Sello must decide whether to pursue the rhino that has approached the national park boundary near the township where he lives with his family. Image © Whirlow&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/new-film-details-wrenching-impact-of-illegal-rhino-horn-trade-on-a-family/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/new-film-details-wrenching-impact-of-illegal-rhino-horn-trade-on-a-family/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-219865</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Better than sex? For hard-to-breed rhinos, technology strives for a solution</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/better-than-sex-for-hard-to-breed-rhinos-technology-strives-for-a-solution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/better-than-sex-for-hard-to-breed-rhinos-technology-strives-for-a-solution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Mar 2019 05:34:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jim Tan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/03/28050627/Image-3-terri-andalas-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=216952</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Global, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Captive Breeding, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Ex-situ Conservation, Javan Rhinos, Mammals, Megafauna, Northern White Rhino, One-horned Rhinos, Rhinos, Sumatran Rhino, White Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[DFFF2016]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In March 2018, Sudan, the last known northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) male, was euthanized at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. With only two known female northern white rhinos remaining, Sudan’s death rendered his sub-species functionally extinct. However, not all scientists have given up hope. A team of researchers at San Diego Zoo [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In March 2018, Sudan, the last known northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) male, was euthanized at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. With only two known female northern white rhinos remaining, Sudan’s death rendered his sub-species functionally extinct. However, not all scientists have given up hope. A team of researchers at San Diego Zoo has embarked on an ambitious project to use assisted reproductive technology (ART) to bring the northern white rhino back from the brink. They aim to use northern white rhino skin cells held in the zoo&#8217;s cryo-lab to produce stem cells they hope could ultimately grow into viable eggs and sperm. It’s one of four similarly audacious projects currently underway around the world. ARTs, which aim to tackle fertility problems using techniques such as artificial insemination (AI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF), have been used successfully in humans and domestic livestock since the 1970s. The potential for ART to improve breeding success and diversify the gene pool has obvious appeal for wildlife managers caring for endangered species like rhinos that don’t breed well in captivity. However, a recent article published in Mammal Review  summarizing more than two decades of ART use on captive rhinos illustrates that the technology’s full potential has yet to be achieved when it comes to these animals. The knowledge researchers have gained has already proved invaluable, largely in assisting natural breeding, but the vision of creating a viable rhino embryo outside of the womb is still some way off. Ultrasound image of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/better-than-sex-for-hard-to-breed-rhinos-technology-strives-for-a-solution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/03/better-than-sex-for-hard-to-breed-rhinos-technology-strives-for-a-solution/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-216952</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Four of six black rhinos translocated to Chad are now dead</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/four-of-six-black-rhinos-translocated-to-chad-are-now-dead/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/four-of-six-black-rhinos-translocated-to-chad-are-now-dead/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Nov 2018 09:36:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/11/08024111/1024px-Black_Rhino_Diceros_bicornis-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=212040</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Chad]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, Mammals, Rhinos, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Two black rhinos have been found dead in Chad’s Zakouma National Park, adding to the two individuals that died last month after being brought in from South Africa. The most recent deaths were reported by the governments of South Africa and Chad, as well as African Parks, an NGO that helps run protected areas in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Two black rhinos have been found dead in Chad’s Zakouma National Park, adding to the two individuals that died last month after being brought in from South Africa. The most recent deaths were reported by the governments of South Africa and Chad, as well as African Parks, an NGO that helps run protected areas in nine African countries. The dead rhinos were from a group of six individuals reintroduced to Zakouma in May from South Africa’s Addo National Park, marking the return of black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) to Chad after nearly 50 years of absence. None of the four dead rhinos were poached, African Parks said in a press release. Post-mortem reports and analysis of blood, tissue and fecal samples from the rhinos did not find anything to indicate that infectious disease or plant toxicity may have led to their deaths, either. There was some evidence of exposure to trypanosomes, a parasite that’s transmitted to animals and humans by tsetse flies, but this is unlikely to have caused mortality, the statement said. All four dead rhinos had low fat reserves, though. “Low fat reserves suggest that maladaptation by the rhinos to their new environment is the likely underlying cause, although tests to be undertaken on brain and spinal fluid may shed additional light on the exact cause of deaths,” the statement said. Park officials and veterinarians are keeping a close eye on the two remaining rhinos. They have captured one and placed it in an enclosure, and are in the process&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/four-of-six-black-rhinos-translocated-to-chad-are-now-dead/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-212040</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Two black rhinos found dead in Chad after move from South Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/two-black-rhinos-found-dead-in-chad-after-move-from-south-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/two-black-rhinos-found-dead-in-chad-after-move-from-south-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Oct 2018 06:27:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/10/24024615/1024px-Diceros_bicornis_-_profile_-_Etosha_2014-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=211411</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Chad]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, Mammals, Rhinos, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Two of the six black rhinoceroses flown to Chad’s Zakouma National Park from South Africa earlier this year have died, according to the NGO behind the translocation program. African Parks, which runs parks and protected areas in nine African countries, said in a statement on Oct. 21 that the two rhino carcasses were discovered in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Two of the six black rhinoceroses flown to Chad’s Zakouma National Park from South Africa earlier this year have died, according to the NGO behind the translocation program. African Parks, which runs parks and protected areas in nine African countries, said in a statement on Oct. 21 that the two rhino carcasses were discovered in separate locations in Zakouma on Oct. 15. “We can confirm that these two rhinos (a male and a female) were not poached, however, the exact cause of death is not yet known,” the statement read. “A specialist Veterinarian was dispatched and is now on site in Zakouma National Park in order to conduct a postmortem that will provide more information on the cause of death and assess the situation to advise on further actions. Details of this will be made available once the cause has been confirmed.” African Parks had worked with government agencies in Chad and South Africa to move six rhinos (two males and four females) to Zakouma in May this year. No black rhino (Diceros bicornis) had been spotted in Zakouma, Chad’s oldest national park, since the early 1970s, and the arrival of the batch from South Africa’s Addo National Park marked the return of the species to the country after nearly 50 years of absence Poaching continues to be a major threat to black rhinos. Image by Harald Zimmer, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Once widespread throughout Africa, only about 5,000 black rhinos remain, represented by three subspecies. Chad was once home to both&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/two-black-rhinos-found-dead-in-chad-after-move-from-south-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/two-black-rhinos-found-dead-in-chad-after-move-from-south-africa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-211411</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>$25m in funding to help African gov&#8217;ts prosecute poachers, traffickers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/new-funding-aimed-at-helping-govts-prosecute-traffickers-poachers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/new-funding-aimed-at-helping-govts-prosecute-traffickers-poachers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Oct 2018 08:16:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/10/14093845/20160302-113228-2.503a86ba4c634e87b60025b0f3526a27-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=211115</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Cats, Cheetahs, Community Development, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Global Environmental Crisis, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, Indigenous Peoples, Law, Law Enforcement, Lions, Mammals, Parks, Poaching, Rhinos, Sustainable Development, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A prominent African wildlife conservation NGO has committed $25 million to help protect iconic fauna from poaching and habitat loss across the continent by investing in African institutions and people. “We are seeing recovery and stabilization of some critical wildlife populations,” Kaddu Sebunya, president of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), said in a statement. “We [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A prominent African wildlife conservation NGO has committed $25 million to help protect iconic fauna from poaching and habitat loss across the continent by investing in African institutions and people. “We are seeing recovery and stabilization of some critical wildlife populations,” Kaddu Sebunya, president of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), said in a statement. “We know what is working and it’s time to scale up the investment to combat this serious threat.” The Nairobi-based organization made the announcement on Oct. 11 during the Illegal Wildlife Trade conference in London. The money will complement more than $13 million that AWF says it has used to support projects aimed at countering the illegal trade of wildlife and wildlife products. The African Wildlife Foundation’s work includes programs to stop the loss of habitat for large carnivores, such as cheetahs. Image by John C. Cannon/Mongabay. “If we can keep wildlife safe from poachers, make wildlife products difficult to move around, actively involve key local players, and dampen the demand for wildlife products, then Africa’s magnificent animals have a fighting chance,” Philip Muruthi, AWF’s chief scientist, said in the statement. Current AWF projects include training sniffer dogs credited with detecting the presence of more than 250 illicit shipments of wildlife products; engaging with communities to encourage economic development that also supports conservation; and equipping wildlife rangers with the tools they need to catch poachers. This infusion of funds will go toward bolstering the capacity of authorities, specifically judges and prosecutors, to hold poachers and traffickers&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/10/new-funding-aimed-at-helping-govts-prosecute-traffickers-poachers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-211115</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>10 of 11 black rhinos now dead after relocation attempt in Kenya takes tragic turn</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/10-of-11-black-rhinos-now-dead-after-relocation-attempt-in-kenya-takes-tragic-turn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/10-of-11-black-rhinos-now-dead-after-relocation-attempt-in-kenya-takes-tragic-turn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jul 2018 15:58:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/07/26154705/Black_Rhinos_Kenya-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=208744</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Black Rhino, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Rhinos, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Last month, officials with the Kenya Wildlife Service attempted to move 11 endangered black rhinos from two national parks, Nairobi and Lake Nakuru, to a third, Tsavo East. Nine of them died shortly after arriving in their new home from what an autopsy has shown to be salt poisoning and dehydration. Today, the Kenyan government [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Last month, officials with the Kenya Wildlife Service attempted to move 11 endangered black rhinos from two national parks, Nairobi and Lake Nakuru, to a third, Tsavo East. Nine of them died shortly after arriving in their new home from what an autopsy has shown to be salt poisoning and dehydration. Today, the Kenyan government announced that a tenth rhino has died and that the eleventh — now the sole survivor of the translocation operation — was attacked by lions yesterday and is clinging to life. According to a report from eNews Channel Africa, Kenyan Tourism Minister Najib Balala said at a press briefing in Nairobi this morning that an investigation had determined that “negligence” by the transfer team had led to the 10 rhinos’ deaths due to &#8220;multiple stress syndrome intensified by salt poisoning.&#8221; The rhinos were taken to Tsavo East National Park in southern Kenya, one of the country’s oldest and largest parks, in order to establish a new breeding ground for the animals in the hopes that they would start a new population. The black rhinoceros is a Critically Endangered species, according to the IUCN Red List. Only about 5,500 individuals are believed to survive in the wild today, 750 of them in Kenya. Autopsies found the water at the endangered black rhinos&#8217; new home in Tsavo East had such a high concentration of salt that it was harmful to the animals, Balala said at the press conference. The BBC reports that Balala added that the Kenyan&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/10-of-11-black-rhinos-now-dead-after-relocation-attempt-in-kenya-takes-tragic-turn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-208744</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Black rhinos return to Zakouma National Park in Chad</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/black-rhinos-return-to-zakouma-national-park-in-chad/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/black-rhinos-return-to-zakouma-national-park-in-chad/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 May 2018 07:37:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/05/06090812/Black-rhinos-in-bomas-in-SA-3_Credit-John-Dickens-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=206451</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Chad]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hunting, Ivory, Mammals, National Parks, NGOs, Over-hunting, Parks, Poaching, Protected Areas, Reintroductions, Rhinos, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Traditional Medicine, White Rhino, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Zakouma National Park in Chad is now home to six black rhinos, the new set of residents reminiscent of an earlier time for the Central African country’s oldest national park. “[Friday’s] reintroduction is an important contribution to the long-term conservation of rhinos in Africa, and also to the enrichment of Chad’s natural heritage,” Peter Fearnhead, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Zakouma National Park in Chad is now home to six black rhinos, the new set of residents reminiscent of an earlier time for the Central African country’s oldest national park. “[Friday’s] reintroduction is an important contribution to the long-term conservation of rhinos in Africa, and also to the enrichment of Chad’s natural heritage,” Peter Fearnhead, CEO of African Parks, said in a statement. African Parks, an NGO that runs parks and protected areas in nine countries, worked with government agencies in South Africa and Chad to ferry two male and four female black rhinoceroses (Diceros bicornis) on a 4,800-kilometer (3,000-mile) airborne journey from Addo National Park in South Africa. A black rhino is released into a boma in Zakouma National Park in Chad. Image by Kyle de Nobrega/African Parks. Hunting had wiped out Zakouma’s black rhinos by the early 1970s. Today, rampant poaching across the rhinos’ African range to meet the demand for rhino horn in traditional medicine markets in Asia threatens both of the continent’s rhino species. The IUCN lists black rhinos as critically endangered and white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) as near threatened species. On May 2, poachers killed three black rhinos, including a calf, at Meru National Park in Kenya. South Africa, where 80 percent of African rhinos live, lost more than 1,000 rhinos in 2017. “The rhinoceros has survived on this planet for millennia, but with fewer than 25,000 remaining due to the insatiable demand for their horns, they are more affiliated with the prospect of extinction than with survival,” Fearnhead said. Only&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/05/black-rhinos-return-to-zakouma-national-park-in-chad/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-206451</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rhino DNA database helps officials nab poachers and traffickers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/rhino-dna-database-helps-officials-nab-poachers-and-traffickers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/rhino-dna-database-helps-officials-nab-poachers-and-traffickers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jan 2018 13:00:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/01/08092727/1280px-Waterberg_Nashorn2-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=202733</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Hunting, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Poaching, Protected Areas, Rhinos, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Traditional Medicine, White Rhino, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Authorities protecting rhinos in Africa now have a tool to help them catch poachers based on fine-scale differences in the DNA of different individuals. The Rhino DNA Index System, or RhODIS for short, has already been used in nine cases to help convict people involved in the illicit rhino horn trade in East and Southern Africa. One [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Authorities protecting rhinos in Africa now have a tool to help them catch poachers based on fine-scale differences in the DNA of different individuals. The Rhino DNA Index System, or RhODIS for short, has already been used in nine cases to help convict people involved in the illicit rhino horn trade in East and Southern Africa. One defendant tried for the killing of two white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) in South Africa’s Kruger National Park was sentenced to more than 29 years in prison. “Unlike similar work in which genetic databases provide an indication of geographic provenance, [RhODIS] provides individual matches that, similar to human DNA profiling, is used as direct evidence in criminal court cases,” Cindy Harper, a veterinarian at South Africa’s University of Pretoria, said in a statement. Rhino horn products seized in Hong Kong in 2017. Photo by U.S. Government Accountability Office from Washington, D.C., United States [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. Poachers and rhino horn traffickers have a significant advantage in staying a step ahead of law enforcement because it’s difficult to pinpoint the rhino horn’s exact origin: Once the horn is cut from a rhino’s body, it moves quickly into the market stream and off to countries where rhino horn is prized for its ornamental value or as a component in traditional medicines. Much of that demand comes from China and Vietnam. RhODIS provides an expedient way for investigators to connect confiscated rhino horn products with the place where its owner was killed. Harper and her colleagues have&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/rhino-dna-database-helps-officials-nab-poachers-and-traffickers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-202733</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rhino poacher sentenced to 18 years in prison</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/rhino-poacher-sentenced-to-18-years-in-prison/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/rhino-poacher-sentenced-to-18-years-in-prison/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Oct 2017 09:51:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/10/25093715/1024px-Black_Rhino_grazing-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=200380</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Malawi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Protected Areas, Rhinos, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In July this year, poachers killed a female black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis), and hacked off her horns, in Liwonde National Park, Malawi. A Malawian court has now convicted and sentenced one of the poachers to 18 years in prison. Two of his accomplices were also handed sentences of ten and eight years each, according to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In July this year, poachers killed a female black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis), and hacked off her horns, in Liwonde National Park, Malawi. A Malawian court has now convicted and sentenced one of the poachers to 18 years in prison. Two of his accomplices were also handed sentences of ten and eight years each, according to African Parks, a conservation non-profit that manages Liwonde National Park in partnership with Malawi’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW). The three men were arrested following a rapid joint operation undertaken by the Malawi Police Services and DNPW. Once the rhino carcass was discovered, the teams tracked the location of the horns to a shop owned by one of the poachers. The response teams searched the shop, and discovered the set of horns in a deep freezer. They also recovered the rifle used in the incident and 25 rounds of ammunition. “Rarely in wildlife crime are the perpetrators brought to justice,” African Parks’ Craig Reid, Park Manager of Liwonde National Park, said in a statement. “The speed at which the poachers were located, arrested, tried and convicted is a testament to the Malawian government and its partners’ commitment to protecting their wildlife and taking a stand against criminal activity.&#8221; Rangers on patrol in Liwonde National Park in Malawi. Photo by Annegré Bosman / Pluk Media. The court charged the three men with entering into a protected area without authority, conveying a weapon into a protected area, killing a listed species, possession of a weapon,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/rhino-poacher-sentenced-to-18-years-in-prison/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-200380</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Black rhinos in Tanzania now monitored via sensors implanted directly in their horns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/black-rhinos-in-tanzania-now-monitored-via-sensors-implanted-directly-in-their-horns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/black-rhinos-in-tanzania-now-monitored-via-sensors-implanted-directly-in-their-horns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Oct 2017 18:56:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/10/24184027/Ngorongoro_Spitzmaulnashorn_edit1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=200376</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Mammals, National Parks, Poaching, Rhinos, Technology, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a first for the species, several black rhinos in Tanzania’s Mkomazi National Park have had small, networked sensors embedded directly in their horns in order to allow park rangers to monitor the animals much more closely than in the past. The sensors make use of LoRaWAN technology (which stands for “Long Range Wide Area [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a first for the species, several black rhinos in Tanzania’s Mkomazi National Park have had small, networked sensors embedded directly in their horns in order to allow park rangers to monitor the animals much more closely than in the past. The sensors make use of LoRaWAN technology (which stands for “Long Range Wide Area Network”), a wireless communication protocol and system architecture that is expected to do for the Internet of Things (IoT) what 3G and 4G connectivity did for mobile phone networks. In other words, LoRaWAN is designed to allow low-powered devices, like sensors in rhino horns, to communicate with Internet-connected devices, like computers in a ranger station, over long-range wireless networks. The sensors were deployed by a company called The Internet of Life, which uses IoT technology to protect endangered wildlife, and the ShadowView Foundation, which specializes in applying innovative new technologies to environmental and wildlife conservation. Instead of GPS, a relatively power-hungry technology, the battery-powered sensors use a geolocation system developed by a company called Semtech that makes it possible to update the rhinos’ location as much as a couple times every hour. Many GPS-enabled IoT applications consume so much energy that updates are only possible once or twice a day. All of the location data generated by the sensors is transmitted to a command center, where each black rhino being tracked appears on a digital map. Various other systems are integrated into this control room, according to project leader and Internet of Life founder Tim&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/black-rhinos-in-tanzania-now-monitored-via-sensors-implanted-directly-in-their-horns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-200376</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Traffickers find new ways to smuggle rhino horn out of Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/09/traffickers-find-new-ways-to-smuggle-rhino-horn-out-of-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/09/traffickers-find-new-ways-to-smuggle-rhino-horn-out-of-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Sep 2017 17:49:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/09/19174409/HI_298961-banner-crop-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=199264</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Poaching, Rhinos, White Rhino, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Criminal networks of Chinese origin operating in southern Africa have started processing rhino horn into jewelry and other trinkets before smuggling it out of the continent, reports wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Instead of shipping poached rhino horns whole or in chunks, transnational criminal networks have started manufacturing jewelry and other rhino-horn trinkets in southern Africa, according to a new report from conservation NGO Traffic. Beads, bangles and other carved rhino-horn trinkets have previously been found in destination countries like Vietnam and China. However, manufacturing such products before shipping them out of Africa represents a new tactic for evading detection, and indicates a possible shift in consumer demand. An undercover photograph of raw and carved rhino horn for sale in Vietnam. Image courtesy of Wildlife Justice Commission. &#8220;I think it makes it extraordinarily difficult for law enforcement agencies,&#8221; said Julian Rademeyer, a South Africa-based project leader for Traffic and one of the authors of the report. &#8220;They are already overstretched and under-resourced, and who&#8217;s going to be able to stop someone walking through an airport wearing a rhino-horn bracelet or bangle or beads, or carrying them in a bag? It&#8217;s not the sort of thing that law enforcement agencies and customs officials are looking for. They&#8217;re looking for whole horns or chunks of horns.&#8221; Evidence that criminal networks of Chinese origin are processing jewelry and trinkets in Africa also suggests that rhinos are not only being poached for the perceived value of rhino horns for medicinal purposes or as a status symbol. &#8220;In some ways the trade is morphing into a luxury market, particularly in China, it would seem, where there is demand from consumers for these objects,&#8221; Rademeyer said. A rapidly&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/09/traffickers-find-new-ways-to-smuggle-rhino-horn-out-of-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/09/traffickers-find-new-ways-to-smuggle-rhino-horn-out-of-africa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-199264</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rhino horn on the auction block in South Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/08/rhino-horn-on-the-auction-block-in-south-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/08/rhino-horn-on-the-auction-block-in-south-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Aug 2017 10:12:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/08/21123311/south_africa_kruger_0429-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=198489</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Evolving Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, South Africa, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Poaching, Rhinos, Traditional Chinese Medicine, White Rhino, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[South Africa’s first “legal auction rhino horn auction” opened Monday online, amid a global rhino poaching crisis. The auction tests the ramifications of an April 2017 court decision to lift a 2009 moratorium on the country’s domestic rhino horn trade. The sale of rhino horn across international borders has been banned under the Convention on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[South Africa’s first “legal auction rhino horn auction” opened Monday online, amid a global rhino poaching crisis. The auction tests the ramifications of an April 2017 court decision to lift a 2009 moratorium on the country’s domestic rhino horn trade. The sale of rhino horn across international borders has been banned under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species, or CITES, since 1977. John Hume, a businessman-turned-game rancher, plans to sell 264 rhino horns. His ranch in the province of Mpumalanga in eastern South Africa is home to some 1,500 white (Ceratotherium simum) and black (Diceros bicornis) rhinos. Fewer than 5,000 black rhinos (pictured here) remain in Africa. Photo by Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay Hume and other proponents of the auction say it will provide valuable funding to protect the animals. Others, including conservation NGOs, worry that legal trade only perpetuates demand and could result in further escalations in poaching. A 2016 study in the journal Current Biology predicted that a similar legalization of the international ivory trade wouldn’t quell poaching because of the issues that governments would likely have in keeping the legal and illegal supplies separate. The immediate concern is that “horn from this sale will leak into the illegal market and be transported to end-user countries, primarily Vietnam and China,” said Cathy Dean, CEO of the London-based NGO Save the Rhino. China is the world’s biggest market for rhino horn, where it’s used in traditional medicine. A recent investigation by the Elephant Action League found that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/08/rhino-horn-on-the-auction-block-in-south-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/08/rhino-horn-on-the-auction-block-in-south-africa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-198489</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Investigation finds ‘thriving’ rhino horn trade in Asia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/07/investigation-finds-thriving-rhino-horn-trade-in-asia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/07/investigation-finds-thriving-rhino-horn-trade-in-asia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Jul 2017 15:01:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/07/18143609/Credit-Richard-Ladkani-Malaika-Pictures-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=197440</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Black Rhino, Conservation, Corruption, Crime, Defaunation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Ivory, Mammals, Megafauna, Northern White Rhino, Poaching, Rhinos, trafficking, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The trade in rhino horn is still flourishing in China and other parts of Asia, despite a worldwide squeeze on the illegal trafficking of wildlife, according to a report by the Elephant Action League (EAL) released today. “It is too easy to find rhino products in China,” said Andrea Crosta, leader of the effort and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The trade in rhino horn is still flourishing in China and other parts of Asia, despite a worldwide squeeze on the illegal trafficking of wildlife, according to a report by the Elephant Action League (EAL) released today. “It is too easy to find rhino products in China,” said Andrea Crosta, leader of the effort and executive director of EAL, in a press release. “Given the growing size and wealth of potential Chinese consumers, we are facing a real existential threat for rhinos, even more than that for elephants, now that there are only about 25,000 rhinos left in Africa.” Rhino horn offered to EAL&#8217;s undercover investigators. Photo courtesy of EAL. EAL&#8217;s 11-month investigation involved dozens of undercover interviews with participants in a diffuse illicit network. Several Asian countries were involved, but EAL focused their efforts on China and Vietnam. “The largest market [for rhino horn] is China, but Vietnam continuously undermines whatever efforts the Chinese do to stop this,” Crosta said in an interview with Mongabay. The report describes the sophisticated underground trade network in which suppliers in Vietnam arrange to move rhino horn into southern China. From that point, brokers in China take over, getting the horn and products made from it into the hands of deep-pocketed consumers. Prices of rhino horn – the sale of which is illegal in China and Vietnam – start at about $26,000 per kilogram ($11,818 per pound), Crosta said, and the team was quoted prices as high as $60,000 a kilogram ($27,272 per&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/07/investigation-finds-thriving-rhino-horn-trade-in-asia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/07/investigation-finds-thriving-rhino-horn-trade-in-asia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-197440</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>When it comes to rhino conservation, Asia and Africa can learn a lot from each other</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/06/when-it-comes-to-rhino-conservation-asia-and-africa-can-learn-a-lot-from-each-other/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/06/when-it-comes-to-rhino-conservation-asia-and-africa-can-learn-a-lot-from-each-other/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jun 2017 11:57:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alex Dudley]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/06/21102740/white-rhino-in-Kruger-R-Butler-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=196695</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Kenya, Namibia, Nepal, South Africa, South Asia, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Megafauna, One-horned Rhinos, Poaching, Protected Areas, Rhinos, White Rhino, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[DFFF2016]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On June 14, a routine scanning of baggage at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo Airport revealed a grim contraband. A Vietnamese citizen’s suitcase contained 28.7 kilograms (63.3 pounds) of poached rhino horns worth an estimated $462,000 on the black market. The shocking discovery came only three days after two Chinese nationals were detained at the same airport [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On June 14, a routine scanning of baggage at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo Airport revealed a grim contraband. A Vietnamese citizen’s suitcase contained 28.7 kilograms (63.3 pounds) of poached rhino horns worth an estimated $462,000 on the black market. The shocking discovery came only three days after two Chinese nationals were detained at the same airport with $385,000 worth of the same deadly cargo. These busts demonstrate the risk and difficulty smugglers accept when attempting to traffic rhino horn from Africa to distant Vietnam and China — and the immense profit motive that drives this illicit trade.  Yet ironically, the prevalence of complex intercontinental poaching networks in Africa highlights how skillfully one Asian country far closer to the horn markets has protected its own rhinos. Since 2011, only four greater one-horned rhinos (Rhinoceros unicornis) are known to have been poached for their horns in Nepal, while the country’s overall rhino population has grown by 21 percent. This contrasts dramatically with the more than 5,500 black and white rhinos (Diceros bicornis and Ceratotherium simum) slaughtered in South Africa alone over the same period, and the recent poaching uptick elsewhere on the continent. As African nations fight to stem the tide of poaching, they have increasingly sought to understand, and replicate, Nepal’s stunning success. A greater one-horned rhinoceros in Nepal&#8217;s Chitwan National Park, where the species is thriving. Photo by Alex Dudley. Figuring out what works Observers attribute Nepal’s gains to a combination of top-down law enforcement and the economic enfranchisement of rural&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/06/when-it-comes-to-rhino-conservation-asia-and-africa-can-learn-a-lot-from-each-other/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/06/when-it-comes-to-rhino-conservation-asia-and-africa-can-learn-a-lot-from-each-other/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-196695</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Wildlife ecologist killed in Rwandan national park by recently translocated rhino</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/06/wildlife-ecologist-killed-in-rwandan-national-park-by-recently-translocated-rhino/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/06/wildlife-ecologist-killed-in-rwandan-national-park-by-recently-translocated-rhino/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jun 2017 13:02:01 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/06/16125217/Diceros_bicornis_Etosha-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=196615</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Rwanda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Environmentalists, Endangered Species, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Mammals, National Parks, Poaching, Protected Areas, Rhinos, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Anti-poaching efforts in Africa are inherently dangerous, especially given the increasing militarization of the poaching gangs that are decimating elephant and rhino numbers across the continent. But recent news out of Rwanda is a grim reminder of another kind of risk anyone working with wildlife is taking, even if their aim is to protect those [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Anti-poaching efforts in Africa are inherently dangerous, especially given the increasing militarization of the poaching gangs that are decimating elephant and rhino numbers across the continent. But recent news out of Rwanda is a grim reminder of another kind of risk anyone working with wildlife is taking, even if their aim is to protect those animals. Hungarian wildlife ecologist Krisztián Gyöngyi was killed on June 7 in Rwanda’s Akagera National Park by an Eastern black rhino he had helped translocate from South Africa just a month earlier. &#8220;It is with utmost regret that I inform you that Krisztián Gyöngyi was killed this morning by a rhinoceros in Akagera National Park in Rwanda while out tracking animals in the park,” Peter Fearnhead, CEO of the non-profit conservation organization African Parks, announced in a statement. “Kris was instrumental in supporting the reintroduction efforts of the black rhino into [Akagera National Park], and was on the ground training rangers how to track and protect them.” According to Fearnhead, Gyöngyi was a rhino specialist who had more than five years of experience monitoring and conserving rhinos in Majete Wildlife Reserve and Liwonde National Park, both in Malawi. “His Master’s degree was on habitat capacity on the black rhinoceros in Majete, and he had been carrying out his PhD research on the conservation ecology of the black rhinoceros in Liwonde National Park since 2012,” Fearnhead said. “He leaves behind his wife Orsi and his young daughter.” We have no words to describe how devastated we&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/06/wildlife-ecologist-killed-in-rwandan-national-park-by-recently-translocated-rhino/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/06/wildlife-ecologist-killed-in-rwandan-national-park-by-recently-translocated-rhino/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-196615</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New York detective work saves rhinos in South Africa (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/06/new-york-detective-work-saves-rhinos-in-south-africa-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/06/new-york-detective-work-saves-rhinos-in-south-africa-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jun 2017 11:04:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Axel Hunnicutt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/06/01174829/PIC4778-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=196279</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Commentary, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Poaching, Rhinos, White Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The sun is just about to rise over a savanna in Zululand, South Africa. Just like early morning in the city, the hum of insects is rising, the chorus of birds is revving up, and the traffic is thickening — as the wildlife gets moving. However, today the African sun is welcomed not by a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The sun is just about to rise over a savanna in Zululand, South Africa. Just like early morning in the city, the hum of insects is rising, the chorus of birds is revving up, and the traffic is thickening — as the wildlife gets moving. However, today the African sun is welcomed not by a symphony of nature, but by the buzz of helicopters and the growl of a chainsaw. This song of man and machine doesn’t announce the destruction of nature, but instead man’s attempt to preserve it. Today we begin dehorning an important black rhino population to quell the wave of poaching in the area. For the last decade, South Africa’s wildlife parks and reserves have fought a brutal war against rhino poaching. It’s a war we aren’t winning. Most conservationists in the country are at their wit’s end, working tirelessly to combat what seems like an unstoppable flood of poaching that is pushing rhinos to the brink of extinction. South Africa is home to over 80 percent of all of Africa’s rhinos, with less than 19,000 white rhino and 2,000 black rhino left within its borders. As such, it remains the last stronghold for these animals on the African continent. But, since 2007, the poaching of South Africa’s rhinoceros for their horns has increased from 13 rhinos in 2007 to a peak of 1,215 in 2014, according to South Africa&#8217;s Department of Environmental Affairs. This surge of rhino poaching has claimed the lives of well over 7,000&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/06/new-york-detective-work-saves-rhinos-in-south-africa-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-196279</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>South Africa makes it legal to sell rhino horns</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/04/south-africa-just-made-it-legal-to-trade-in-rhino-horns/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/04/south-africa-just-made-it-legal-to-trade-in-rhino-horns/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Apr 2017 17:31:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/04/30123303/south_africa_kruger_5243-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=194645</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Rhinos, White Rhino, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A top court in South Africa just made it legal to trade in rhino horns within the country. The South African government, in 2009, imposed a moratorium that banned domestic trade in rhino horns. But after years of legal battle between commercial rhino breeders and the government’s Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), the constitutional court [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A top court in South Africa just made it legal to trade in rhino horns within the country. The South African government, in 2009, imposed a moratorium that banned domestic trade in rhino horns. But after years of legal battle between commercial rhino breeders and the government’s Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), the constitutional court has now issued an order rejecting the government&#8217;s appeal to retain the national ban on the trade in rhino horns. The international trade in rhino horns still remains banned. Commercial rhino breeders have welcomed the decision, arguing that an open, legal trade in rhino horns will end the poaching of rhinos and will help pay for their protection. &#8220;This judgment is a victory for the concept of sustainable use of natural resources to the benefit of the conservation of rhino as a species, as well as to the benefit of the people protecting such species,&#8221; the Private Rhino Owners Association, one of the respondents in the case, said in a statement. A southern white rhinoceros in South Africa. The country is the last remaining stronghold of rhinoceroses, but is facing an unprecedented poaching crisis. Photo by Rhett Butler. However, several conservationists argue that there is no domestic market for rhino horns within South Africa and that a legal domestic trade would only worsen rhino poaching in the country. “Legal trade in rhino horn is not the way to stop rhino poaching,&#8221; Susie Watts of WildAid&#8217;s Africa Program, said in a statement. &#8220;All it does is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/04/south-africa-just-made-it-legal-to-trade-in-rhino-horns/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-194645</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A Czech zoo is dehorning its rhinos</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/a-czech-zoo-is-dehorning-its-rhinos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/a-czech-zoo-is-dehorning-its-rhinos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Mar 2017 05:21:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/03/30123732/Dehorning-of-rhinos-in-zoo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=194274</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Czech Republic and Europe]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Poaching, Rhinos, Traditional Chinese Medicine, White Rhino, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this month, poachers broke into a zoo near Paris, shot a 4-year-old male white rhino thrice in his head, and hacked off one of his horns. This is believed to be the first instance of a rhino being attacked at a zoo in Europe. Now, worried about a potential poaching attack, the Dvůr Králove [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Earlier this month, poachers broke into a zoo near Paris, shot a 4-year-old male white rhino thrice in his head, and hacked off one of his horns. This is believed to be the first instance of a rhino being attacked at a zoo in Europe. Now, worried about a potential poaching attack, the Dvůr Králove Zoo in Czech Republic has started removing horns of its resident rhinos. &#8220;The decision to remove rhino horns was not made easily at all,&#8221; Přemysl Rabas, Director of Dvůr Králové Zoo, said in a statement. &#8220;However, the risk that the rhinos currently face not only in the wild but even in zoos is too high and the safety of the animals is our first concern. The dehorned rhino is definitely a better option than the dead rhino. Any other measures are not so deterring as the fact that in our zoo there are no rhinos with horns left.&#8221; The first horn was removed from a male southern white rhino named Pamir. Photo by Andrea Jirousova/Dvur Kralove zoo. The zoo &#8212; home to four southern white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum simum) and 17 black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) &#8212; sawed the horns off its first rhino, a 10-year-old male southern white rhino named Pamir, on March 20. Pamir was anaesthetized and the removal of his horn took less than an hour. Anaesthetizing the rhino is necessary, the authorities said, to keep it calm while its horn is being removed using a chainsaw. But the entire procedure is painless for the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/a-czech-zoo-is-dehorning-its-rhinos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-194274</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Reducing Asia&#8217;s hunger for rhino horn</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/reducing-asias-hunger-for-rhino-horn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/reducing-asias-hunger-for-rhino-horn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Mar 2017 09:12:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Giovanni Ortolani]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/01/17153748/Black-rhino-mom-calf-at-Etosha-waterhole_Yathin-S-Krishnappa-Wikipedia-768x466.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=193820</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animals, Black Rhino, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Megafauna, One-horned Rhinos, Poaching, Rhinos, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Traditional Medicine, White Rhino, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
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											<grant>
							<![CDATA[DFFF2016]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More than 1,350 rhinoceroses were killed for their horns in 2015 alone. The majority of these killings took place in Africa, where 1,342 were killed. Asia, too, saw 24 of its greater one-horned rhinos succumb to poaching that year, all in India. While countries like South Africa, Namibia, and to a lesser extent India are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More than 1,350 rhinoceroses were killed for their horns in 2015 alone. The majority of these killings took place in Africa, where 1,342 were killed. Asia, too, saw 24 of its greater one-horned rhinos succumb to poaching that year, all in India. While countries like South Africa, Namibia, and to a lesser extent India are the source countries for the trade, few poached rhino horns are believed to stay within their borders. Instead, demand is driven primarily by consumers in China and Vietnam, where rhino horn is sold as a luxury good or an ingredient in traditional medicine. Between 2006 and May 2016, a minimum of 528 kilograms (1,164 pounds) of rhino horn was seized in China and at least 442 kilograms (974 pounds) in Vietnam, according to data from the NGO Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). This means that in recent years, a third of all rhino horn seizures across the globe took place in these countries – 18 percent in China and 15 percent in Vietnam. Vietnamese and Chinese nationals were also involved in poaching cases all over the world. Data collected by EIA since 2006 indicate that 17 percent of seizures involve suspects who are identified as Vietnamese, and over a quarter of offenses involve suspects identified as Chinese nationals. “In Africa, Chinese and Vietnamese syndicates work with locals to source rhino horn, and then rhino horn is smuggled to Asia — sometimes in containers on cargo ships with other illegal commodities such as elephant ivory,” Charlotte Davies,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/reducing-asias-hunger-for-rhino-horn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-193820</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Zimbabwe is dehorning its rhinos to curb poaching</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/09/zimbabwe-is-dehorning-its-rhinos-to-curb-poaching/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/09/zimbabwe-is-dehorning-its-rhinos-to-curb-poaching/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Sep 2016 13:17:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/09/01191814/zimbabwe-82225_960_720-440x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=189126</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Zimbabwe]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, Rhinos, White Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2015, at least 1,338 rhinos were illegally killed for their horns across Africa. Of these 50 rhinos were killed in Zimbabwe. To help curb poaching, Zimbabwe has announced plans to dehorn the nearly 100 rhinos residing in its state parks. Private conservancies, which house some 600 additional rhinos, may also choose to dehorn their rhinos. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2015, at least 1,338 rhinos were illegally killed for their horns across Africa. Of these 50 rhinos were killed in Zimbabwe. To help curb poaching, Zimbabwe has announced plans to dehorn the nearly 100 rhinos residing in its state parks. Private conservancies, which house some 600 additional rhinos, may also choose to dehorn their rhinos. &#8220;We want to send a message to poachers that they will not get much if they come to Zimbabwe,” Lisa Marabini, founder trustee and director of operations with Aware Trust Zimbabwe, one of the conservation groups assisting the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority in the dehorning program, told Reuters. “The park&#8217;s policy is to dehorn all the rhino.&#8221; Poaching of rhinos is fueled by demand from countries like China and Vietnam. Rhino horn, made of keratin, the same material as our fingernails and hair, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine. In Vietnam too, many people incorrectly believe that rhino horns can cure cancer or hangover. In fact, rhino horns can fetch about $100,000 in Vietnam’s markets. At least 50 rhinos were killed by poachers in 2015. Photo by Stromayer, Karl, public domain. Dehorning, as a poaching deterrent, has been used by a few African countries. Namibia, for instance, started dehorning its rhinos in the late 1980s and early 1990s. None of the dehorned rhinos were poached, according to the charity Save the Rhino. Many South African private reserves have also used dehorning as a way of thwarting poachers. Zimbabwe too has been using&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/09/zimbabwe-is-dehorning-its-rhinos-to-curb-poaching/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-189126</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>South Africa drops proposal to legalize international trade in rhino horn</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/south-africa-drops-proposal-legalize-international-trade-rhino-horn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/south-africa-drops-proposal-legalize-international-trade-rhino-horn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Apr 2016 16:04:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/04/01214423/z_00027-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=186065</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Black Rhino, Conservation, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Mammals, Poaching, Rhinos, White Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The South African Department of Environmental Affairs officially announced last week that the country will not submit a proposal to legalize international trade in rhino horn at the upcoming Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), scheduled to begin this September in Johannesburg, South Africa. Both African rhino [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The South African Department of Environmental Affairs officially announced last week that the country will not submit a proposal to legalize international trade in rhino horn at the upcoming Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), scheduled to begin this September in Johannesburg, South Africa. Both African rhino species, the black rhino (Diceros bicornis) and the white rhino (Ceratotherium simum), are listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The black rhino, in particular, is listed as critically endangered. Most of the remaining rhinos in Africa are found in just four countries: Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Few African rhinos have survived outside of protected areas and sanctuaries, but even there they’re not entirely safe, as rhinos have been facing what’s been called a “poaching crisis” over the past several years. Conservationists had criticized South Africa’s plans to submit a proposal to legalize trade in rhino horn as misguided, arguing that it would put Africa’s threatened rhino populations at further risk. According to the WWF, the number of rhinos poached in South Africa alone increased 9,000 percent between 2007 and 2014. And 2015 was the deadliest year yet for rhinos in Africa, with at least 1,305 animals killed by poachers. A female black rhino. Photo by Rhett Butler. South Africa, which is considered ground zero of rhino poaching in Africa since it’s home to as much as 80 percent of the African rhino population, reported that 1,175 rhinos were illegally killed&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/south-africa-drops-proposal-legalize-international-trade-rhino-horn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-186065</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>2015 was the worst year on record for rhino poaching in Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/01/2015-was-the-worst-year-on-record-for-rhino-poaching-in-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/01/2015-was-the-worst-year-on-record-for-rhino-poaching-in-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jan 2016 15:59:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/01/02190540/south_africa_kruger_5246-e1453409266629-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Black Rhino, Conservation, Endangered Species, Poaching, Rhinos, White Rhino, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[2015 was yet another deadly year for rhinos in Africa as at least 1,305 animals were killed by poachers. According to TRAFFIC, a UK-based non-profit that monitors the wildlife trade, that makes last year the deadliest on record for Africa’s rhinos. Rhino poachers caused the death of 1,299 animals in 2014. South Africa, ground zero [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[2015 was yet another deadly year for rhinos in Africa as at least 1,305 animals were killed by poachers. According to TRAFFIC, a UK-based non-profit that monitors the wildlife trade, that makes last year the deadliest on record for Africa’s rhinos. Rhino poachers caused the death of 1,299 animals in 2014. South Africa, ground zero of rhino poaching in Africa and home to as much as 80 percent of the world’s rhino population, reported today that 1,175 rhinos were illegally killed in the country in 2015. That actually represents a small drop from the 1,215 rhinos killed in South Africa in 2014, TRAFFIC said, but that decrease was more than offset by significant increases in neighboring countries. “While a slight decrease in rhino poaching in South Africa was apparent in 2015, and perhaps the authorities are having some impact on the ground, these numbers are hardly cause for celebration or complacency,” Sabri Zain, TRAFFIC’s Director of Policy, said in a statement. “The figures remain unacceptably high and continent-wide the scale of the rhino poaching crisis is spreading.” Graph via TRAFFIC. In Zimbabwe, poachers killed 12 rhinos in 2014 and a widely reported total of “at least 50” in 2015, TRAFFIC found, while rhino deaths in Namibia also rose sharply, from 24 in 2014 to 80 last year. The fourth major rhino range state, Kenya, is the only country expected to report a significant fall in rhino poaching in 2015. “For Africa as a whole, this is the worst year in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/01/2015-was-the-worst-year-on-record-for-rhino-poaching-in-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-175565</doi>				</item>
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