The first rhinos returned to Zinave National Park today after 40 years, the result of cooperation between Mozambique and the South African Peace Parks foundation.
“The first 19 white rhinos were successfully transferred from South Africa to Zinave National Park through the longest road transfer of rhinos ever,” the organization said in a statement.
The aim is to repopulate the park with rhinos over the next few years by introducing a new population that will breed, but also by repeating the transfer operation.
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi today witnessed the arrival of the animals that will make Zinave “the only Mozambican park with the big five” – in an allusion to the lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhino.
“To date, 2,400 game animals representing 14 different species have been introduced into Zinave, including elephants, giraffes, buffalo, zebras, wildebeests, leopards and hyenas,” details the Peace Parks foundation.
The organization founded in 1997 by, among others, then South African president Nelson Mandela, points to the reintroduction of rhinos to the Zinave as an important milestone in protecting the species that has been in the sights of hunters.
“In the past decade, more than 8,000 black and white rhinos (more than a third of the world’s entire remaining population) have been slaughtered by poaching in southern Africa,” he emphasizes.
Zinave National Park covers 408,000 hectares and was decimated after Mozambique’s 16-year civil war.
Mozambique’s National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) and Peace Parks partnered and began restoring the park in 2016.
Lusa
