RHINOS-RDCONGO – TELAM Agency
Sixteen South African white rhinos were reintroduced this week to Garamba National Park in northeastern DRC, where the species, decimated by poaching, had not been seen since 2006, project promoters announced today.
The 16 animals from the Beyond Phinda private reserve, in the South African province of KwaZulu Natal (southeast), and transported by plane to the DRC, are subspecies of the “southern white rhino”, while what once inhabited the Garamba they were “northern white rhino”, according to the AFP news agency.
The southern white rhino is expected to “adapt and fulfill (in the park’s ecosystem) the same role as the now-extinct northern white rhino,” those responsible for the operation wrote in a statement.
Sponsors include the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN), the environmental protection organization African Parks and the Canadian mining group Barrick Gold Corporation.
Created in 1938, Garamba Park, one of the oldest in Africa, saw its fauna decimated over the years by regional conflicts, poaching, ivory trafficking and chronic insecurity.
Source: Ambito
