WWF International
August 16, 2000

Gland, Switzerland - The future of the key black rhino populations in Zimbabwe could be at serious risk, due to an increase in poaching in the wake of political unrest and land invasions, WWF, the conservation organization warned today.

Seventy per cent of Zimbabwe's population of black rhino, 11 per cent of the whole African population, live on private land, mostly in conservancies - groupings of private ranches undertaking joint wildlife management operations. Following the land invasions, poaching and snaring of rare species in and around the conservancies has increased. In the last week alone, two black rhinos, an elephant calf, and an African wild dog - which is one of the most threatened carnivores in Africa - have been caught in snares set inside conservancies. One rhino, a three-year old male, was successfully immobilized and the snare removed from its rear right leg, where it had been embedded down to the bone. Efforts are currently underway to track and free the second rhino.

"We know that the poachers are setting the snares principally for game meat - but in doing so, they are also indiscriminately trapping other species," said Raoul du Toit, of WWF's Southern African Regional Programme Office, Zimbabwe. "National Parks promptly gave the necessary permission to enable fast intervention to save these rhinos, but the breakdown in management systems in the whole area is making what is already a difficult job near impossible, and we fear it won't be long before more of the rhinos are either accidentally caught in snares, or worse, deliberately poached."

Black rhino numbers crashed throughout Africa from more than 60,000 in the 1970s to less than 2,500 in 1992. For the last 10 years, WWF has been working with Zimbabwe's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management to rebuild these populations, mainly through the establishment of conservancies in the south-eastern Lowveld: Save Valley, Bubiana, Chidredzi River and Malilangwe. The rhinos bred in these conservancies are vital for restocking other areas where they have already been wiped out by poachers.

Although new estimates from a joint project by WWF and IUCN - The World Conservation Union, show that numbers of black rhino continue to increase in the wild, both groups warned that there is no room for complacency. The problems facing the conservancies in Zimbabwe highlight the rhino's fragile situation.

"WWF appreciaties the very sensitive land issues involved, but we're extremely concerned about the future of these important rhino populations, which are very much at risk at this time," said WWF's Director General Claude Martin. "We continue to be ready to work with the Zimbabwean wildlife authorities and with all other agencies, including any agencies with authority over the invading groups, to seek ways to secure the rhinos under the current unstable situation."

For further information:

Shaleen Russell; mobile: +41 79 477 3553; srussell@wwfint.org Error: Unable to read footer file.