Park welcomes rhino residents

“WildlifeNews

I can clearly see your not a fanatical green, although you do seem to be fanatical. I'm with prince William on this one, no doubt you see him as some kind of green fanatic as well.

Fact is over 900 rhino have been killed in Africa during the past 3 years.

A horn can change hands at £40,000 per kilogram, making it more expencive than gold. with growing wealth in the far east the Rhion's time on this planet is running short.


http://tinyurl.com/c95khpp”

“No i'm not a chinese poacher but I'm also not a fanatical green who hypes up dangers which quite simply do not exists except in the fundraising and marketing departments of NGO's and businesses.

I've not yet seen once academic or scientific study that calims the african white rhino is at threat of extinction. The problem is the public are constantly being fed a stream of exagerated claims.

The simple facts are there are over 17,000 white rhino in Africa and the population is growing at a reat of 3% a year. The species is NOT being wipe out of existance by poachers.

This may not be what some people in the West want to hear because it does not help them to raise money but it still does not stop it from being fact.”

“Wildlifenews is it also perfectly acceptable that 100's of these animaals are being killed each year. To me u sound a bit like a chinese poacher!!!

According to Dr Joseph Okori, head of WWF's African Rhino Programme:

"The African rhino is under serious threat from poachers who have intensified their search of rhino for their horns since 2007, driven by growing market demands in Asia."
Help save Africa's rhinos


"The rhino poaching trend is extremely worrying. If it is not stopped, the world could lose African rhinos. This is a tragedy we do not want to contemplate."

Dr Joseph Okori, Head of WWF's African Rhino Programme
Hundreds of rhinos poached each year
Thanks to successful conservation efforts, Southern Africa is now home to the majority of Africa's surviving rhinos.

Even so, South Africa – home to more than 80% of Africa's rhino populations – is losing hundreds of rhinos each year. In this country alone:

122 rhinos were killed in 2009
A record 333 rhinos were killed in 2010
By September, 2011 at least 274 rhinos had been killed”

“These would be southern white rhino as the only captive northern white rhino in europe are in the Czech Republic. The northern white rhino is effective extinct in the wild.


The southern white rhino population in Africa is growing at approx 3% which is perfectly acceptable for the species considering its maturity and breeding habits.”

“http://tinyurl.com/c4e5mz6

Sad news about Rhino population”

“Is it a northern or southern white rhino. If it's northern then it is very much endangered. And with habitat being destroyed and the human population increasing to around 2500 billion in Africa by the end of this centaury I would imagine the southern rhino will be going the same way as it's northern relative”

“In order to add a bit of accuracy to this story please be aware that the african white rhino - which Zamba and Jambo are - are not 'literally being wiped out by poaching.

The african white rhino population is stable and growing with a birth rate exceeding the species death rate, including poaching, thanks to a lot of conservation work being undertaken in Africa.

For the rhino to be 'literally wiped out by poaching' the growth rate of poaching over the last 4 years will have to continue for the next 5 or 6 years before poaching rates exceed the birth rate of the rhino. THere are a lot of programmes being roled out now to ensure that the rate of growth of poaching does not continue.

As conservation and education is one of the main reasons that zoos and safari parks use to keep animals in captivity you would have thought someone entrusted with looking after two captive rhinos would have known the current conservation status of the rhino.

But perhaps saying that rhinos in the wild are not under threat of extinction does not sell as many tickets as saying the are being wiped out?”