No rhinos will be sold into hunting – SANParks 03 Fri, Oct 2014 SANParks will strictly regulate prospective rhino buyers as it starts to implement a rhino management strategy that includes relocation and auction of the limited number of White rhinos from the Kruger National Park, the SANParks board has confirmed. The strategy was adopted by Cabinet this year and is aimed at curbing poaching and ensuring continued growth of the rhino population. At the time of the announcement, the Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, emphasised the importance of relocating a number of rhino from the Kruger National Park as soon as possible. “We are now ready to move, and to begin implementation of our entire rhino management strategy,” SANParks Chairman, Kuseni Dlamini, said on Wednesday, October 1. “Relocation is the core of our approach – not only to combat poaching but to ensure the continued growth of the rhino population. “We aim to re-stimulate growth in large protected areas while creating new rhino strongholds. In this way, we will be able to offset the effects of poaching in the short to medium term, while expanding rhino range and improving the overall population size.” According to the board, relocation of rhino and other species from the Kruger has always been part of the SANParks Management Plan. Moreover, the relocation of 1 450 rhino from the park between 1997 and 2013 has contributed significantly to the growth of SA’s rhino population. Chris Vick, Spokesperson for the SANParks board, told Tourism Update that SANParks would likely sell between 350 and 400 rhino a year. The figure will be on an annual census that SANParks will conduct in the Kruger. In August, SANParks suspended a SANParks executive relating to irregular procedures that were followed with the sale of the rhinos. According to reports, this included the sale of 260 rhino to hunting safari companies, namely Winterhoek Safaris, Chapunga Safaris and Steyn Safaris. However, the SANParks Board recently cancelled the planned sale because proper governance procedures were not followed. A disciplinary process is under way and is due to be completed in mid-November, said Vick. “We have ironed out these issues and the sale will be fully compliant with our own supply chain processes and our conservation mandate,” Dlamini said. “Planning is already well under way for the first auction of rhinos, which will take place later this year.” Dlamini emphasised that SANParks would strictly regulate prospective purchasers, and require them to sign agreements to ensure relocated animals contributed to the conservation of the species and the growth of the rhino population as a whole. These agreements will be linked to management plans with clear objectives and targets for the growth of populations that are being introduced in new range areas,” he said. According to Vick, no rhinos would be sold for hunting. “It is a strict requirement that they are to be sold for conservation purposes, to build the meta-population of rhinos across the country.” He explained that while it was possible that people who ran game farms that offered hunting might purchase rhino, these rhino could not be used for hunting. “It is a strict precondition that rhinos that are bought from SANParks through this process must be kept for conservation purposes and are not to be used for hunting.” SANParks is finalising provisions for the sale and will call for offers to purchase in a series of newspaper advertisements that will appear in the next few weeks. The first stage of the relocation, which involved moving selected rhino from high-density areas into bomas, had started, said Vick. Tessa Reed
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 08:38:02 +0000
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