Help Us Save Zimbabwe’s Rhinos!

Just after dawn on February 16th, Sinikwe, a black rhino cow, and her 16-month-old calf were ambushed by poachers in the thick brush.  Sinikwe escaped with gunshot wounds. Her calf was shot and killed – its horn hacked off with an axe minutes after its death.  Weeks later, a rhino monitoring unit that is checking on Sinikwe’s recovery sees that she is still returning regularly to her calf’s carcass.  The poachers also know of her unwillingness to abandon her calf. Their footprints have been seen recently, following hers from the dead calf. 

Rhino poaching in Zimbabwe has doubled in the past year.

Zimbabwe is home to the fourth largest population of Critically Endangered black rhinos in the world. Eighty-eight of the country’s nearly 800 rhinos – more than ten percent of the population – were brutally killed by organized gangs of poachers in 2008, just for their horn. Actual losses are likely higher – these are only the documented poaching incidents. The slaughter has continued unabated this year, with at least 17 black rhinos killed over the past three months. 

The Trust is increasingly being forced to undertake emergency operations to rescue rhinos as poaching has increased. These emergency translocations are the only way to curb the rate of loss and save Zimbabwe’s vulnerable rhino population.

We are planning to move as many as 50-60 rhinos out of vulnerable areas in 2009, a massive undertaking that will severely strain our available resources.

We need your help to raise $100,000 for emergency operations this year!

One of the unwelcome side effects of the poaching crisis has been an increase in the number of orphaned rhino calves. Poachers generally target adults, who have large horns that provide a bigger profit. Rhino calves, still nursing and too young to survive on their own, are often left behind in the slaughter, sometimes with life-threatening injuries. Increasingly, injured and orphaned calves have to be rescued and bottle-reared until they are old enough to be released back into the wild.  The Lowveld Rhino Trust is currently raising five calves.

On October 5th, four-month-old Millie was found beside the carcass of her dead mother, who was killed by cyanide when poachers poisoned a natural water hole. Millie possibly suffered slight poisoning and was very slow to take to the bottle. Rangers sat in the pen with her for hours, trying to get her to drink, and eventually she began taking the bottle willingly. Now she is a healthy and growing rhino, and will be released into the wild soon!

Zimbabwe’s economy has all but collapsed in the last several years. Cholera has killed over 4,000 people. Food is scarce and many people are starving, largely due to fast-track land reformation that has decimated the country’s farming industry. Inflation has reached 80 billion percent. In addition to losing its hard currency value, Zimbabwe is now in danger of losing its biological currency – rhinos and other wildlife. This high-value biological currency could be a key factor in turning around the economy through tourism - if we can act now to ensure it is not lost!

100 percent of your donation will be used to support emergency operations (including translocations, veterinary treatment, and anti-poaching efforts) and care of orphaned rhino calves in the Lowveld Conservancies of Zimbabwe.

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