The Serengeti Rhino Project | Background
Source – Frankfurt Zoological Society: www.fzs.org
Reintroduction is always is the last effort to make sure that a species is not forever lost – and more expensive than protecting a species properly in the first place. To bring back a species that has been exterminated or is on the brink of extermination is always a very expensive undertaking.
The Serengeti Rhino Repatriation Project (SRRP), aimed at boosting the small Serengeti rhino population with an additional 32 rhinos, is a complex, risky and expensive undertaking. Reintroduction is always more expensive and difficult than protecting a key species in situ properly in the first place. Whether we are talking about bringing oryx back to the Arabian deserts, vultures to the Alps or rhinos to the Serengeti – the reintroduction is always the last effort to make sure that a key species is not forever lost.
Adding an additional 32 rhinos to the existing small Serengeti population has the potential to create a real stronghold for the Eastern Black Rhino population. Returning the rhinos is not only helping maintain diversity in the Serengeti, it is also having a profound positive impact on the management of the park and the general biodiversity conservation of the ecosystem.
The actual transfer of the rhinos from South Africa to the Serengeti is only a small – albeit the most spectacular – part of the Serengeti Rhino Repatriation Project. The major goal of the project is re-invigorating law enforcement and ecosystem protection systems in the Serengeti – without protecting the vital resources, conservation is lost.
The project’s contribution into the Serengeti expands over a period greater than five years. The previous two years were used to improve security in the National Park and the surrounding protected areas. An elite rhino task force was established, every park ranger attended an intense six-week basic training course, communications and equipment were put in place and most importantly a renewed spirit of pride and professionalism has been injected into the National Parks system giving emphasis on resource protection, not just for the rhinos but for the whole ecosystem. These efforts will carry on beyond the culmination of the SRRP and will continue providing safety to the Serengeti all its inhabitants.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) provides strict guidelines for reintroductions; in the case of the Serengeti the focus of these were the removal of the original threat that led to the near-extermination of the species. The rhinos were wiped out in the 1980’s by poaching, putting resource protection and security at the forefront of the Serengeti Rhino Repatriation Project. A series of studies looking at habitat requirements (vegetation, cover and water availability) concluded that the habitat in the Serengeti is still intact and ideal for rhinos. The result of these studies also helped to pinpoint where the first area of release is located.
Another condition imposed by the IUCN was to ensure the animals are monitored closely after their release. The rhinos will be followed twenty-four hours a day for the next few years. This effort will make certain that security is maintained and that the animals are adapting to new challenges: change to new food, exposure to new diseases and new social set up.
The Paul Tudor Jones Family Foundation generously provided 4,7 million US Dollars for the five year program to increase and maintain security in the Serengeti. The Serengeti native Eastern Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis michaeli) – named after the late Michael Grzimek – was available for reintroduction from a breeding project in South Africa. Under South African law these animals belong to a private owner who had to be reimbursed for all the costs of raising and maintaining this population. Again this was made possible by a grant from the Paul Tudor Jones Family Foundation of over 2,35 million US Dollars. After purchase, the animals were formally donated to the government of South Africa, which will hand them over to the government of Tanzania after arrival in the Serengeti. Under Tanzanian law, rhinos cannot be owned privately but will remain under the ownership of the Government and its agent, the Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA). The rhinos need to be transported by air from their breeding ranch in South Africa and in order to accomplish this feat a large Hercules C-130 transport aircraft has been chartered. Though the aircraft is quite large, a maximum of six rhinos can be transported at a time due to weight limitations. Six flights will take place to accommodate the transport of all 32 rhinos over the next two years. Transport aircraft this size are expensive and the flights have been made possible by a grant of 650,000 US Dollars from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and assistance from Ms. Amy Robbins in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Nduna Foundation (USA).
The project is guided by a technical committee appointed by the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, with members representing Tanzania National Parks, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the Wildlife Division, Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, the Grumeti Fund and Frankfurt Zoological Society. We are looking forward to rebuilding a healthy rhino population and providing exceptional security and wellbeing to all creatures of the Serengeti Ecosystem in the years to come.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Frankfurt Zoological Society: www.fzs.org
