Rhino Rewild
Rescue. Rewild. Renew.
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What is
Rhino Rewild
Rhino Rewild is an audacious 10-year plan to rescue and rewild 2,000 rhinos, and renew the wild habitats they require.
How do we plan to do that? Read on to learn about our three-phase plan, and how you can help these rhinos on their journey.
© Brent Stirton / Getty Images
Rescue
We rescued 2,000 southern white rhinos, almost 15% of the remaining global population, when we announced that African Parks had purchased the largest captive rhino breeding operation, including the land, the equipment, and all 2,000 rhinos, in September 2023. These rhinos were in jeopardy of being poached or fragmented as part of a liquidation process and were at serious risk of being lost to conservation forever.
But we purchased the operation with one clear intent: to rewild these rhino over the next 10 years to well-managed and secure areas, establishing or supplementing strategic populations, thereby de-risking the future of the species.
© Brent Stirton / Getty Images
© Mike Dexter
Rewild
We plan to translocate up to 300 rhinos annually, to multiple, well-managed protected areas across Africa over the next 10 years. With 22 parks under management in 12 countries, African Parks is establishing multiple release sites within our existing network, and we are working with other conservation organisations, communities and governments to establish additional sites, ensuring that the rhinos will be protected in their new, wild homes.
Renew
Once rewilded into safe, wild areas, these 2,000 rhinos can supplement existing populations or create new ones, helping to de-risk the species and play a role in repairing ecosystems.
White rhinos are mega herbivores that shape savannas which store 30% of the world’s terrestrial
carbon.
Where rhinos are present, there is an increase in both flora and fauna. Thriving rhino populations are
indicators of ecosystem renewal and where ecosystems flourish, they benefit both the wildlife and people within it.
© Brent Stirton / Getty Images
Why we need to be
Rhino Ready
The crux of the solution, and the ultimate success for rewilding these 2,000 rhinos, lies in the existenceof effectively managed protected areas across Africa, which African Parks has been doing for over 20 years.
The three key pillars of our management model are:
- Biodiversity conservation
- Community development
- Park revenue generation
These are the main components to getting a park Rhino Ready™ for the safe return, and re-wilding, of these rhinos.
© Scott Ramsay
How to Help
Your support makes all the difference.
We are looking for partners and funders who share in our vision, and wish to be part of a legacy of helping to save a species, and conserve critical ecosystems for people and our planet.
Donate to help us Rewild 2,000 Rhinos
When you donate to African Parks, 100% of your donation goes to the field, to help us carry out projects like rewilding rhinos, and protecting the parks under our management.
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Sign up to follow these 2,000 rhinos and their historic journey, as well as for information about
the work African Parks is doing across Africa.