19 white rhinos reintroduced to Mozambique’s Zinave National Park for 1st time in 40 years

A total of 19 white rhinos were translocated from South Africa to Mozambique’s Zinave National Park, becoming the first batch of these endangered animals to find a natural habitat in the 408,000-hectare park in 40 years, said the Peace Parks Foundation (PPF) in a statement on July 1.

The translocation is part of an initiative launched by the PPF, Mozambique’s National Administration for Conservation Areas (ANAC) and Exxaro Resources, with the cooperation and support of the governments of South Africa and Mozambique, the statement said.

The initiative aims at rebuilding the park, which hosts more than 2,000 animals of different species, including elephant, sable, giraffe, buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, leopard and hyena, the statement continued.

Zinave National Park was announced as a natural reserve in 1972. However, it was destructed by a civil war that lasted for 16 years from 1977 to 1992. In 2015, the initiative for the revival of the park was declared. 

There are only five surviving rhino species in Africa and Asia, but the number of white rhinos is in decline due to poaching, especially in South Africa, its homeland, according to a report issued in September 2021 by the US-based International Rhino Foundation (IRF).

The report said that there are two subspecies of white rhinos (the northern and the southern). In 2018, the last male northern white rhino died in Kenya, National Geographic reported.

However, populations of other species like greater one-horned rhinos (more than 3,700), Javan rhinos (reaching 75 in 2021 from less than 50 in 2011), and black rhinos are increasing, while the Sumatran rhino is still critically endangered, as there are only 80 rhinos and their number is decreasing, the IRF report added.