Six rhinos facing danger in southern Africa could be relocated to Dubbo by the end of the year in a race against time to stop poachers from killing them.
The increasingly threatened animals are to come to Taronga Western Plains Zoo under the ambitious Australian Rhino Project that is working to ensure the species has a future.
Another six rhinos were part of the original relocation plan but have since been killed by poachers, at a time when the illicit demand for rhino horn in South Africa has skyrocketed to more than double that of gold.
The new arrivals will join the existing “insurance population” developed at Taronga Western Plains Zoo during the past two decades.
Ray Dearlove founded the Australian Rhino Project because of his concerns that if nothing were done, poaching would cause the iconic species’ extinction in the wild by 2024 - now less than 10 years away.
In 2006 rhino horn cost $760 per kilogram, but by 2015 the price had risen to USD $103,000 - about triple the black market value of heroin, the organisation reports.
The demand for rhino horn is being driven by belief in a myriad of uses with no clinical evidence to back them up, but that’s not stopping consumers in nations including China and Vietnam, the project reports.
The team behind the project - a registered charity - aims to raise $1 million by World Rhino Day on September 22 this year, which will cover the cost of transporting six rhinos by air from South Africa to Australia, and the cost of preparing facilities and ongoing support for the rhinos.
It has called for donations from the public.
“Rhino poaching deaths have risen at alarming rates over the past eight years,” Mr Dearlove said.
“1006 rhinos were killed in 2013; 1215 in 2014, and 2015 is shaping up to be the worst year for poaching on record.
“It is absolutely critical that the first stage of this project gets under way now, and we need donations to make it happen.
“I ask you, if you are affected by this story then please, please head to our website and make a donation.
“Every little bit helps.”
During a four-year period the project plans to relocate 80 rhinos from southern Africa to Australia, with the ultimate goal of eventually reintroducing the rhinos and their young to their natural habitat.
Taronga life sciences research and conservation general manager Simon Duffy said the organisation had been involved with the project since the first, when Mr Dearlove approached them wanting to do something but not sure of what.
The concept to support the existing and successful insurance population resulted from the talks and then the zoo did a feasibility study for the project, Mr Duffy said.
Dubbo’s experience and reputation as “one of the leading zoos for rhino conservation”, its capacity to care for rhinos with specialist keepers and vets and its climate was why it was “such a great fit”.
Mr Duffy said the privately-owned rhinos - one young male and five females - would go into pre-export quarantine in a government-approved facility in South Africa.
There they would undergo tests required by the Australian government and be trained to go into crates.
Travelling by plane they would land in Sydney and then be transported to Taronga Western Plains Zoo by truck.
Once at Dubbo they would go into quarantine again for a minimum of three months before being introduced to their new herd.
“It’s a really exciting but ambition project,” Mr Duffy said.
For more information about the Australian Rhino Project visit www.theaustralianrhinoproject.org