Christopher Torchia, Associated Press
Updated 5:26 am, Sunday,
February 28, 2016
Photo: Denis Farrell, AP
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In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 15,
2016 young rhinos eat in their enclosure at a rhino orphanage in the
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve in the KwaZulu Natal province South Africa.
Rhino calves that have lost their mothers are especially vulnerable and can
spend several years under the care of conservationists before being released
back into the wild. less
In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 15,
2016 young rhinos eat in their enclosure at a rhino orphanage in the
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve in the KwaZulu Natal province South Africa.
Rhino calves that have lost ... more
Photo: Denis Farrell, AP
Image 2 of 6
In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 15,
2016 a baby rhino stands with its dehorned mother in their enclosure at a rhino
orphanage in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve in the KwaZulu Natal province
South Africa. Rhinos have been slaughtered in increasing numbers to meet demand
for their horns in Asia, particularly Vietnam. less
In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 15,
2016 a baby rhino stands with its dehorned mother in their enclosure at a rhino
orphanage in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve in the KwaZulu Natal province
South Africa. ... more
Photo: Denis Farrell, AP
Image 3 of 6
In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 15,
2016 young rhinos walk about their enclosure at a rhino orphanage in the
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve in the KwaZulu Natal province South Africa.
Rhino calves that have lost their mothers are especially vulnerable and can
spend several years under the care of conservationists before being released
back into the wild. less
In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 15,
2016 young rhinos walk about their enclosure at a rhino orphanage in the
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve in the KwaZulu Natal province South Africa.
Rhino calves that have ... more
Photo: Denis Farrell, AP
Image 4 of 6
In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 15,
2016 young rhinos nap in an enclosure at a rhino orphanage in the
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve in the KwaZulu Natal province South Africa.
Rhino calves that have lost their mothers are especially vulnerable and can
spend several years under the care of conservationists before being released
back into the wild. less
In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 15,
2016 young rhinos nap in an enclosure at a rhino orphanage in the
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve in the KwaZulu Natal province South Africa.
Rhino calves that have lost ... more
Photo: Denis Farrell, AP
Image 5 of 6
In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 15,
2016 a young rhino, whose mother was killed by poachers, stands in its
enclosure at a rhino orphanage in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve in the
KwaZulu Natal province South Africa after being rescued two nights earlier. The
bulky baby , while sedated, was hoisted into a rescue helicopter, whose seats
and doors had been removed, and taken to the refuge. less
In this photo taken Monday, Feb. 15,
2016 a young rhino, whose mother was killed by poachers, stands in its
enclosure at a rhino orphanage in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve in the
KwaZulu Natal province ... more
Photo: Denis Farrell, AP
Image 6 of 6
FILE - In this file photo taken
Monday, Feb. 15, 2016 a young rhino, whose mother was killed by poachers,
stands in its enclosure at a rhino orphanage in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game
Reserve in the KwaZulu Natal province South Africa after being rescued two
nights earlier. The bulky baby , while sedated, was hoisted into a rescue
helicopter, whose seats and doors had been removed, and taken to the refuge.
less
FILE - In this file photo taken
Monday, Feb. 15, 2016 a young rhino, whose mother was killed by poachers,
stands in its enclosure at a rhino orphanage in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game
Reserve in the KwaZulu Natal ... more
HLUHLUWE-IMFOLOZI GAME
RESERVE, South Africa (AP) — During the rescue of a South African rhino calf
whose mother was killed by poachers, six heavily perspiring men squeezed the
sedated orphan into a helicopter whose seats and doors had been removed to make
more space, according to a witness account. The rhino's behind stuck out of the
aircraft a bit, but the improvised airlift in February was a success.
Days later, an Associated
Press team saw the jittery calf trotting around a holding pen at
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi, a wildlife area whose tradition as a rhino refuge contrasts
with an otherwise grim picture in which rhinos have been slaughtered in
increasing numbers to meet demand for their horns in parts of Asia, especially
Vietnam.
The disoriented calf, which
collided noisily with an enclosure door at one point, could spend a couple of
years under human care until it is resilient enough to return to the wild. It
is the guest of conservationists whose predecessors, many decades ago, chased
darted rhinos through thorny bush on horseback, or noosed them while speeding
alongside the galloping beasts in open trucks.
The storied history at
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi, the last redoubt of southern white rhinos a century ago and
then a gene pool for distribution of surplus rhinos elsewhere in Africa and in
Western zoos and parks, is a source of hope among groups struggling for a
formula to curb poaching. In the late 19th century, there were estimated to be
fewer than 100 of that type of rhino because of uncontrolled hunting, posing a
crisis comparable in some ways to today's challenge.
"They were where we are
now — in dire straits, with their backs against the wall," said Werner Myburgh, chief
executive officer of the Peace Parks Foundation, a
group that promotes cross-border conservation areas.
Today, there are about 20,000
southern white rhinos, most of them in South Africa. There are only three
northern white rhinos left in the world, living at a Kenyan conservancy. The
critically endangered black rhinos number about 5,000. Other kinds of
threatened rhinos live in parts of Asia.
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi, formerly
split into two parks, transfers roughly 100 rhinos annually, many going to
other conservation areas or private farms, said Cedric Coetzee,
manager of rhino security in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province, which
includes the park.
"We're still in a
sustainable model here," Coetzee said.
Hluhluwe-iMfolozi was among
the first areas in Africa where wildlife was formally protected in the late
19th century, and had also been a former royal Zulu hunting ground with some
restrictions on the killing of animals.
"It's one area where we
all meet together," Coetzee said. "It's got steep, steep traditions
in Zulu history and it's got steep, steep traditions in white history as well."
The park is under less
pressure from infiltration than South Africa's Kruger National Park, which is
particularly vulnerable because it borders Mozambique, where many rhino
poaching teams are based.
Still, the threat looms.
Poachers killed 24 rhinos in KwaZulu-Natal province as of Feb. 25 this year, an
increase of 16 percent over the same period in 2015. Nationwide, poachers
killed 1,175 rhinos in South Africa in 2015, down 40 from the previous year,
according to the government.
The facility in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi
park where the white rhino calf was taken after its helicopter ride can house
several dozen rhinos. On a recent afternoon, two black rhino calves snacked on
leaves and one approached visitors at a barrier, seemingly content to be patted
on its head.
The man credited with saving
southern white rhinos is Ian Player, the
late South African conservationist and brother of golfer Gary Player who
pioneered rhino capture and relocation methods in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi area,
starting in the late 1950s. He worked closely with Zulu tracker Maqgubu
Ntombela in a relationship that defied the racial divisions of the era's white
minority rule.
"There's a lot of good
energy" at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi, said Coetzee, the rhino security manager.
