Saving Private Rhino

Thanks to the mistaken belief in parts of Asia that powdered rhinoceros horn is a cure for cancer, rhino poaching has become an epidemic in Africa.  The reserve we are staying at has a large, armed anti-poaching unit.  Even still, they lost two rhinos to poachers two years ago.  More than 800 rhinos have been poached so far this year in South Africa alone.  Perhaps not surprising given that rhino horn is worth more per ounce than gold.

On Monday of this week we took part in a large effort to take DNA samples and insert microchips in the rhinos at Shamwari.  It was a large effort that started with a vet with a tranquilizer gun in a chopper

Once each rhino went down, we headed in.  Step 1 was to blindfold and put earplugs in the rhino to limit the stress level

We had to keep them wet to prevent them from overheating

While we drilled their horns to obtain DNA samples which will be kept in a central registry to help with tracking illegal horns when they are recovered

And injected microchips in their rump to help with identification

All in all we darted and processed 8 rhinos.  A successful morning!