Almost 50 years after they were hunted to local extinction, black rhinos will again roam the wilds of the Central African nation of Chad, the latest chapter in a movement to bring big mammals back to former ranges on the continent. On Thursday, six rhinos will be flown to Chad’s Zakouma National Park from Port Elizabeth, sedated and confined in special crates to ensure they don’t cause a commotion mid-air. The initiative comes against the backdrop of a poaching crisis that saw more than 1,000 rhinos slain in SA in 2017 to meet demand for their horns in Asia, where they are prized for their alleged medicinal properties. With 18,000 white rhino and 2,000 of the smaller black rhino, SA is home to about 80% of the global population of the pachyderms, making it the springboard for re-introduction efforts elsewhere. "By establishing a viable and secure population of rhino in Chad, we are contributing to the expansion of the rhino population in Africa, and the survival of a species that ha...
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