Pitman, D., 1983. Rhino rescue in southern Zimbabwe. Newsletter of the African Elephant and Rhino Group 2: 9-10
|
|
|
|
| |
| Location: |
Africa - Southern Africa - Zimbabwe |
| Subject: |
Distribution - Records |
| Species: |
White Rhino |
 |
|
drought of 1983 - Ceratotherium simum. Between 30 and 40 Southern white rhino are being captured in southern Zimbabwe to rescue them from the worst drought to hit the region in living memory. The last indigenous Zimbabwean white rhino was shot by hunters earlier in the century, and the country's current population of around 200 animals has been redeveloped from stock supplied by the Natal Parks Board. Most of these animals are located in National Parks such as Hwange, and in smaller ?Recreational Parks' including Lake Mcilwaine, close to Harare, and the Matopos outside Bulawayo. These areas have escaped the worst of the drought; but two separate populations on privately-held ranches in the south of the country - the hardest-hit region - would almost certainly have died by the end of the 1983 dry season.
One of the threatened rhino populations, first thought to number 25 animals, was located on the Humani and Lone Star ranches in the south-eastern corner of the country, close to the Gonarezhou National Park. While browsers such as kudu and eland will probably survive, thousands of grazers including zebra, wildebeest and impala - and possibly some of the white rhino - have already died. When it became apparent, early in 1983, that Southern Zimbabwe was facing a severe wildlife crisis, plans for the capture of several valuable species were made by the Zimbabwean Department of National Parks in conjunction with the ranches involved.
The Department and the ranches targetted sable antelope, Lichtenstein's hartebeest, and the remaining white rhino for capture and captive feeding until they can be re-released hopefully by next March. Two National Parks capture teams moved into the area in June. While one team concentrated on the threatened antelopes, the other successfully located and caught 17 white rhino, using darts loaded with M99 and administering the 50-50 antidote after the animals had been transported to the pens on Lone Star ranch. Six have since died from a combination of stress and extreme poverty. The remaining 11 have adjusted to a diet of sugarcane tops supplied by neighbouring sugar estates. While the second team continue with the antelope capture, the rhino unit, led by the Department's Management Unit Warden Clem Coetsee, moved a couple of hundred miles west to Doddieburn, a former ranch that is now State Land.
Here, a further 22 white rhino are thought to be threatened by the drought and are being captured and penned. Three are destined for Algeria, together with a number of cheetah. Five will be moved on to other ranches where grazing is still available; and the rest will be released into the 5200-square-mile Hwange National Park.
The rescue operations have depended heavily on public support. The ranches in the south-east launched a ?Save our Sable' fund which has so far raised some Z$15,000 to pay for the captive feeding of the antelopes and white rhino; and the Bulawayo branch of the Wildlife Society has been instrumental in obtaining crates, feed and other essential items to help with the capture on the Doddieburn ranch. Possible further developments include the establishment of a nationwide fund to help finance any future rescue operations that may be needed. Zimbabwe experiences a ten-year drought cycle and the situation could well deteriorate further next year. Local conservationist agencies are now seeking around Z$150,000 to finance the capture and transport equipment that may be needed to avert a full-scale wildlife disaster if the 1983-84 rains fail to materialise.
|
|
|
Rhino rescue in southern Zimbabwe
File available
details
Original text on this topic: