Rhino News January – June 2024

We’re half-way through 2024! It’s been a busy six months in rhino conservation; full of incredible highs as well as some difficult challenges. Here’s a recap of 2024 the year so far.

January

• Our Patron, Kenneth Donaldson, completed a 250 km desert ultra-marathon across Namibia, raising more than £2,000 for rhinos! Read his event diary to see how he got on
• Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP), in South Africa, has been heavily targeted by poaching gangs in recent years. Rangers work hard every day to monitor and protect rhinos in this landscape, but with dense scrub, large predators, rocky terrain and a huge area to cover, they cannot get to every point in the Park during every foot patrol. This makes aerial support crucial and we’re proud to have helped with the Park’s ‘eyes in the skies’. Read more about HiP’s Aircraft’s vital role

February

• In February, we met two new members of the HiP K9 Unit team; Chief and Captain, the Independent Tracking Dogs! The HiP K9 unit is a team of dedicated handlers and dogs working tirelessly to protect the Park’s rhinos. Their mission: stopping poachers before they can harm a rhino, and to improve tracking and intelligence gathering if a rhino is found killed. Read more about the paws protecting HiP.
• Thanks to rangers’ relentless work, the rhino population at Ol Jogi Conservancy, in Kenya, has grown! Celebrating their success and building morale, ranger teams have ‘Rhino Dinners’ – occasions for Ol Jogi’s rangers to get together, socialise over a drink and a meal, and discuss their work. Read more about Rhino Dinners.
• February also saw the creation of a new black rhino population on Loisaba Conservancy in Kenya. The Kenya Wildlife Service and partners re-introduced 21 Eastern black rhinos from three reserves across the country, as part of the National Rhino Range Expansion project, which aims to secure more space for Kenya’s black rhino population to grow. Our CEO, Dr Jo Shaw, joined the team for some of the exciting releases, find out more about how it went here
• The latest poaching numbers were released from South Africa: 499 rhinos were illegally killed across the country in 2023. This figure represents a worrying increase of over 10% since 2022 – Read more about the poaching statistics here
• Finally, February 2024 marked a special moment for us at Save the Rhino as we celebrated 30 years since Save the Rhino was established! Read our reflections on rhino conservation over the last three decades here

 April

• More than 30 years after the rhino costumes made their iconic debut at the London Marathon, we introduced a new addition to our herd – the first-ever rhino wheelchair! Our newest member of the crash not only symbolises the importance of everyone protecting endangered wildlife, but also promotes accessibility in endurance events. Read more about our new addition.
• The Government of Indonesia announced the discovery of a new Javan rhino calf after an image from a remote camera trap in the Ujung Kulon National Park showed the calf alongside its mother. Both mother and calf appeared to be in good health, and the calf was estimated to be around three to five months old when it was seen. Whilst we celebrate this birth, with so few Javan rhinos left, the species needs more, urgent action – read more here
• On 21 April, our herd returned to the streets of London for the 32^nd year in a row, completing the London Marathon to raise funds for rhinos! As well as charging 26.2 miles past iconic landmarks of London, the team raised funds and awareness for all five beautiful species of rhinos. Read more about our team here

May

• In May, we reflected on the conservation of Greater one-horned rhinos through management of their habitat in Manas National Park. A growing population here requires more healthy, connected and secure habitat to grow into. Thanks to our generous donors, our grants helped to create this space by removing invasive plants and encouraging growth of native rhino food plants. Our hope is that more rhinos can move into these spaces and their population can continue to rise. Read more about the project here
• Indonesian media reported the disturbing news that 10% of the Javan rhino population had been illegally killed in Ujung Kulon National Park between 2019 and 2023. Read more on the story here

June

• In June, further developments to the Javan rhino poaching story saw 13 people arrested and, in total, those arrested confessed to killing 26 Javan rhinos – around one-third of the entire remaining population. The news is devastating. Thankfully, there have been no further reports of poaching incidents in 2024. Read the latest developments to the story here
• Our Grant Manager and former CEO Cathy Dean is awarded a MBE for over 22 years of dedicated service to rhino conservation, read more about this amazing  story here