Wildlife

Where are South Africa’s rhinos going?

Hundreds of rhinos have been shipped from South Africa to disreputable zoos and breeding facilities across the world, despite losing more than 1000 rhinos a year to poaching.

Between 2006 and 2017, amid the onslaught of a national poaching crisis, South Africa shipped around 900 live white rhinos overseas. These animals are now destined to live out their lives in the zoos and breeding facilities of China, North Korea, Singapore, Bangladesh, the US, Mauritius, Russia and Vietnam.

According to the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) Draft Biodiversity Management Plan for White Rhinoceros, a receiving rhino facility abroad should only be deemed acceptable to acquire South African rhinos if it can show a high standard of husbandry and veterinary care.

The facility should also be able to maintain animal record systems, has written conservation action plans in place, contributes to scientific studies, promotes education and can demonstrate a risk management plan.

However, once an animal has been exported to a facility in Vietnam for example, there are no domestic laws that compel the importing facility to keep the animals on site and they can move or loan the rhinos to other zoos. One case of this occurring was seen in 2015 when 14 loaned rhinos ended up at a facility in Vietnam, allegedly responsible for mass animal deaths.

However, there is also a lack of transparency regarding how many rhinos have been exported from South Africa or where they have been sent, with a number of inconsistencies clearly visible in the Cites public trade data. For instance, import and export figures simply do not line up and there are irregularities in the purpose codes used with some live animals even listed as hunting trophies.