West African black rhinos feared extinct
West African black rhino feared extinct
While four of the six African
rhino subspecies are recovering, new surveys fail to locate any
West African black rhinos, and find no more than four northern
white rhinos
Gland, Switzerland, 07 July 2006 (IUCN) While most subspecies of
Africas two rhinos, the black and white rhino, continue on the
road to recovery, this is not true for two of Africas most
threatened rhino subspecies: the West African black (Diceros
bicornis longipes) and the northern white (Ceratotherium simum
cottoni). The West African black rhino is now feared extinct and
numbers of the northern white rhino have reached an all time low in
the wild. In both cases, poaching for rhino horn is the main cause
of their demise.
This is according to new estimates announced by the African Rhino
Specialist Group (AfRSG) of the IUCNs Species Survival Commission.
An intensive survey earlier this year of the West African black
rhino has failed to locate any sign of their continued presence in
their last refuges in northern Cameroon.
As a result this subspecies has been tentatively declared as
extinct, says Dr Martin Brooks , AfRSG chairman . Also the
northern white rhino is on the very brink of being lost. Restricted
in the wild to Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of
Congo , recent ground and aerial surveys conducted under the
direction of African Parks Foundation and the AfRSG have only found
four animals. Efforts to locate further animals continue, but we
must now face the possibility that the subspecies may not recover
to a viable level, he continued.
On a more positive note, continental black rhino numbers have
increased to 3,725 as a whole, a rise of 3.2% over the last two
years: this from an all time low of 2,410 in 1995. The ultimate
conservation success story continues for the other white rhino
subspecies, the southern white. Down to less than 50 animals a
hundred or so years ago, numbers have increased to 14,540.
At its recent meeting in Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, Swaziland,
opened by King Mswati III, Ngwenyama of Swaziland, and sponsored by
UKs Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA),
the AfRSG shared experiences in rhino management and reintroduction
techniques, and discussed a wide variety of topics. Good progress
was made towards the creation of a rhino management group to
enhance collaboration between East African countries, holistic
guidelines for guiding rhino reintroductions were drafted, and
African range states supplied much of the data to enable the AfRSG
to report on rhino status and illegal trade to the Secretariat of
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Poaching for rhino horn remains the primary threat to rhinos. It
has been responsible for the dramatic decline of northern white
rhinos since 2003. It is a truism that rhinos, like elephants, are
amongst the first species to suffer once security declines, and
they are particularly vulnerable to economic and political
instability.
In a climate of declining conservation budgets, Dr Martin Brooks
added, it is good to note that two public private partnerships are
bringing generous funding and institutional support for the
creation of new large and genetically viable black rhino
populations in North Luangwa , Zambia , and KwaZulu-Natal , South
Africa . However, such interventions are not always possible;
African Range States need to strive for self-sufficiency and the
integration of these flagship species and areas into their regional
economies if the distribution and numbers are not to decline in
future.