Rhinos: Endangered Animals Spotlight

Rhinos once roamed throughout Europe, Asia and Africa, and were depicted in early European cave paintings. In the early 20th century, Africa and Asia were home to 500.000 rhinos. However, by 1970, their numbers plummeted to 70.000, and today, as per the World Animal Foundation, only about 27.400 rhinos persist in the wild. Three species of rhino (Black, Javan and Sumatran) are critically endangered. Namibia is home to both black and white rhinos. It has the second-largest population of black rhinos in the world, after South Africa. As of 2021, there are around 2.000 black rhinos in Namibia, which is around a third of the total population of this species.

CONSERVATION EFFORTS

Namibia’s government has implemented a community-based conservation programme, which involves local communities in managing and protecting rhino habitats. In addition, they have implemented a successful rhino tracking and monitoring programme. Since 2013, WWF has worked with the government of Namibia and partners such as Save the Rhino Trust, Rooikat Trust, and Namibia Nature Foundation to help Namibia’s communal conservancies improve and expand their rhino protection programs and prevent wildlife crime—which has helped increase the rhino population. 

POACHING

However, as stated by the BBC, who quotes Namibian officials “the number of endangered rhinos poached in Namibia in 2022 was the highest on record, and almost as twice as many as the year before”. In total, 87 rhinos were killed, compared to 45 in 2021, as shown by government data. 

Most were poached in Etosha, Namibia’s biggest national park. According to Romeo Muyunda, a spokesman for the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, poachers murdered 61 black rhinos and 26 white rhinos. In Etosha National Park, which Muyunda referred to as a poaching hotspot, 46 rhinos were discovered dead.

Transnational criminal gangs now locate and sedate the animals using high-tech technology before chopping off the horn and leaving them to bleed to death. Seeking a solution, wildlife teams have been slicing off the rhinos' horns to keep them alive, specifically in South Africa and Botswana, where poaching is also a huge issue.  

Different factors contribute to the popularity of rhino horns: in some cultures, the rhino horn has been utilised as traditional medicine, while for others it is a symbol of wealth. 

WILDLIFE FORENSICS

Wildlife forensics can play a crucial role in preventing rhino poaching by providing the tools to identify and prosecute poachers and traffickers. This can be done through DNA analysis of individual animals, which can help monitor rhino populations; crime scene investigation, as forensic techniques can be used to collect and analyse evidence from poaching scenes (footprints, tire tracks, etc); and many other potential methods. This is why the Wildlife Forensic Fund mobilises knowledge, expertise, capacity and innovation to fight wildlife crime.