Poaching at flagship KZN rhino reserve drops dramatically after emergency dehorning drive

The painful decision to remove the horns of the world’s most famous rhino population appears to be bearing fruit — with an estimated 80% drop in poaching in KwaZulu-Natal’s flagship Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve over the last six months.

This is according to the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), the conservation group that has provided significant funding and other support to the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife provincial conservation agency to mount an emergency dehorning programme in the 96,000ha reserve in central Zululand.

The entire global population of southern white rhinos was hunted to the point of extinction across Africa nearly 150 years ago, leading to the establishment of the Hluhluwe iMfolozi Game Reserve in 1876. By 1920, fewer than 100 of these animals had managed to survive.

Over many decades, the former Natal Parks Board guarded the survivors and gradually increased this remnant population to the point where there were enough animals to start restocking the Kruger National Park, along with many other game reserves across Africa where the species had become extinct.

Later, an unprecedented wave of horn poaching led to heavy casualties in Kruger and other parks, prompting wildlife managers across SA to dehorn rhinos to make them less attractive targets for poachers.

Whereas managers in Kruger began dehorning rhinos at least three years ago, Ezemvelo opted against this drastic strategy and continued to suffer heavy poaching losses as criminal syndicates switched their attention away from Kruger to focus on animals still bearing large horns.

That began to change in April when Ezemvelo and WWF launched a major operation to dehorn the famous Zululand population.

In a statement on Thursday, WWF said poaching had dropped by roughly 80% since mass dehorning began in the park.

Whereas an estimated 307 rhinos were killed in this park alone last year (an average of 26 per month), poaching has now dropped to single-digit monthly figures.

WWF said only four rhinos were poached in June, eight in July and four in August — whereas almost 30 animals were being slaughtered monthly immediately before the operation began.

Orphaned calves rescued

Though the exact number of rhinos left in the park has not been disclosed for security reasons, it is understood that more than 1,000 have been dehorned.

At least eight rhino calves orphaned by poaching were rescued during the dehorning project.

Jeff Cooke, WWF South Africa’s rhino conservation programme manager said: “Unfortunately, rhino poachers are indiscriminate and often target female rhinos that have small calves at foot. These calves are usually ignored by the poachers and are left behind to fend for themselves. Fortunately, these eight calves — due to the extensive aerial surveillance carried out during the dehorning operation — were discovered in time.”

WWF said that alongside the dehorning, the security capacity of Hluhluwe iMfolozi Game Reserve had steadily improved, with more security cameras and “smart fences” and the deployment of tracking and detection dogs.

Many of the dehorned rhinos were fitted with tracking “pods” to allow for the remote monitoring of their movements. These devices are normally fitted above the horn stumps.

Cooke commended the hard work and dedication of those involved in the dehorning but cautioned, “While we have seen a dramatic decline in poaching, we cannot let our guard down. We know that the criminal syndicates are always looking to capitalise on security lapses wherever they can find them.”

The dehorning strategy appears to have paid immediate dividends, but several conservation managers have warned that dehorning displaces poaching to other, smaller reserves where rhinos still have horns.

Cognisant of these risks, wildlife managers at the 20,000ha Babanango Private Game Reserve in northern KZN announced this week that their rhinos had also been dehorned.

As more reserves resort to these desperate measures, even the dehorned rhinos are at risk as poachers may shoot these animals to extract their remnant horn stumps.

There are also concerns that the massive costs associated with dehorning rhinos on a regular basis are not sustainable in the long term for cash-strapped government agencies and several private parks, and that funding could dry up due to “donor fatigue”. DM