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BARBARA KLEIN: What can be done to save the rhino population from falling in South Africa?
One idea being tried is removing a rhino’s horn to prevent the animal from being killed illegally. Many ranchers who raise rhinoceros for profit support this idea. That includes some whose animals were killed for their horns. The landowners say horns removed humanely then would be available for the market, reducing the price. And poachers would not attack rhinos without horns.
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Another idea that has been proposed is making the sale of rhino horn legal. Activists for that plan say it would reduce criminal activity.
MARIO RITTER: Dr. Jacques Flamand is a wildlife specialist in South Africa. He has been working to help rhinos in other ways. These methods also involve ranchers.
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A white rhino in Kruger National Park, South AfricaEarlier in Dr. Flamand’s career, he became known for helping to rescue the white rhino population from disappearing forever. Now he is leading the Black Rhino Range Expansion Project. Its goal is to increase the home territories of rare black rhinos, which can raise their numbers. The activist organizations WWF and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife are working to provide wider, safer spaces where the animals can move freely.
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BARBARA KLEIN: Over the years, Dr. Flamand supervised the transport of many black rhinos by helicopter. The process begins when the animals are given a drug that makes them sleepy. Then they are suspended upside down from the helicopter. They hang by their legs on strong ropes for a fast trip to another territory -- much faster than traveling by truck.
Veterinarians say the trip does not hurt the animals. Health experts watch them during the flight, after landing and during their release. And they say the creatures simply wake up in their new surroundings with much more space than before.
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But Dr. Flamand said it was not always easy to get landowners to provide that space. Black rhinos interest many people, especially foreign tourists. But, as we know, they also get the attention of poachers. Not all landowners are interested in earning money from the tourist trade. Others are just not pleased to have two-ton visitors.
MARIO RITTER: Dr. Flamand told a VOA reporter that some landowners have combined their properties to create large areas. He said a lot of hard work was needed to persuade them. But now, many landowners have removed barriers that would have stopped rhinos from moving freely.
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Recently, nineteen black rhinos were among a group of animals “translocated” to new territory. That brought the total population of the transported creatures to one hundred twenty.
Jacques Flamand says their rangeland territory has been expanded by thirty-four percent. Their safety has been improved. And landowners have increased security to protect the animals and themselves from poachers.
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BARBARA KLEIN: Dr. Flamand says other wildlife also have gained more security and breeding space from the project.
JACQUES FLAMAND: “It is not only good for black rhino. It is good for elephants, vultures and especially another critically endangered species, the wild dog.”
Many activists praise Dr. Flamand’s work for rhinos. Still, as one South African said, “Any animal with the possibility of that kind of value will always be in some danger.”
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