CAPE TOWN, May 3 (Xinhua) -- South Africa on Thursday began the translocation of black rhinos to Chad amid intensified efforts to salvage the endangered animal.
South Africa's Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa witnessed the loading and departure of black rhinos from the Addo Elephant National Park, Eastern Cape Province.
This was part of an initiative to reintroduce rhinos to the African country under an agreement signed between South Africa and Chad in 2017.
The agreement on the re-introduction of black rhinos to Chad seeks to re-establish a rhino population in Chad as part of the broader biodiversity initiatives between South Africa and Chad, Molewa said.
"By establishing a viable and secure rhino population of rhino in Chad, we are contributing to the expansion of the rhino population in Africa, and the survival of a species that has faced high levels of poaching for the past decade," said Molewa.
The translocation of black rhinos is being achieved through a collaboration between the South African Department of Environmental Affairs, the government of Chad, South African National Parks and the African Parks Foundation.
The rhinos are being translocated to the Zakouma National Park in Chad which has experienced a dramatic decrease due to poaching since 2010. The last black rhino in Chad was seen in Zakouma in the 1970s.
Chad was historically home to at least two rhinoceros species - the northern white rhinos and the western black rhinos.
Translocation is but one of the interventions being implemented by South Africa a part of the Integrated Strategic Management of Rhinoceros Approach, said Molewa.
"Our approach includes compulsory interventions, interventions to increase rhino numbers, long-term sustainability interventions and game-changing interventions," she said.
South Africa has also translocated black and white rhinos to a number of other African countries, including Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Namibia, Mozambique, Kenya and Swaziland.
South Africa, home of more than 80 percent of rhino population in the world, bears the brunt of rhino poaching, lossing 1,028 rhinos to poaching last year.
