Rhino conservation
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The African black rhino is one of the world's most gravely endangered animals (the current estimate is that as few as 3,100 remain in the wild today) and rhino conservation is one of the WWF's key priorities. The reason rhino conservation is necessary is purely because of the illegal poaching of black rhinos down the years which has had a devastating effect on black rhino numbers (as recently as 1970 there were estimated to be 65,000 black rhinos in the wild).
Rhino conservation isn't helped by the poverty in Africa - rhino horns are highly valued in many parts of Asia because they are thought to have medicinal qualities, so the financial rewards for illegally selling rhino horn are huge. Another profitable outlet for rhino poachers is the Yemen, where rhino horn is used to make the handles on traditional daggers.
Sadly, as long as the poaching of black rhinos in poor countries remains highly profitable there will always be illegal poachers and - as a result - the need for rhino conservation projects. |
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Rhino conservation in Africa is vital for many reasons. The most obvious and immediate necessity for rhino conservation is to stop the rhinos themselves from becoming extinct (which is a very real possibility). However there are also secondary benefits to rhino conservation. Rhino conservation helps to conserve other African species which also benefit from the anti-poaching measures put in place to try and protect black rhinos. For example rhino conservation helps to protects elephants (who are poached for their ivory) and antelopes (who are poached for the bush meat trade).
Aside from the anti-poaching measures that are put in place, other African wildlife also benefits from rhino conservation in other ways. A key strategy of rhino conservation is to provide large, protected spaces to allow black rhinos all of the space they naturally require to roam and graze. When rhino conservation projects provide such protected areas for black rhinos a knock-on effect is that lots of other wildlife also benefits.
For rhino conservation to work effectively it is sometimes necessary to physically re-locate gravely endangered herds to areas where they have more security and, as a consequence of this, greater breeding potential. This aspect of rhino conservation is obviously extremely specialised and requires plenty of funding, so the support of wildlife conservation organisations such as the WWF is absolutely vital.
The Real Gap Black Rhino Conservation Project has been endorsed by the WWF and is a great way to get involved with a hugely rewarding wildlife conservation project. The rhino conservation programme is located in the beautiful Zimbabwe Midlands and volunteers work alongside a team of researchers and conservation specialists. There are also plenty of Zimbabweans working on the rhino conservation programme so, aside from the rewarding work volunteers do, it's also a great way to get to know local people and discover the culture of Zimbabwe through rhino conservation.
Volunteers on the rhino conservation programme help out in a number of different ways. For example daily work might involve helping local guides to track rhinos (either on foot, by plane or in a jeep), monitoring the rhinos and observing their movements, recording data and basically helping on the rhino conservation programme in any way required.
This type of rhino conservation programme has been immensely successful at slowly but surely stabilising the black rhino population and giving it the best possible chance for recovery. By volunteering on the black rhino conservation programme you can make a very real and positive contribution to this vital rhino conservation work. |
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