24 Sep 2017

On September 22, Botswana joined the rest of the world in observing  World Rhino Day.

The day has been commemorated since  2010.

A press release from Kalahari Conservation Society (KCS) states that the commemoration is globally well honoured every year through a series of unique celebrations and activities which tend to depict the rhino and highlight the continued prevalence of individual, institutional and global efforts in conserving the animal.

This year, the day was commemorated under the theme, '5 Rhino Species Forever.'

The commemoration was first announced by WWF-South Africa in 2010 and grew into an international success the following year, encompassing both African and Asian rhino species, states the release.

The release states that this year’s commemoration celebrates all five species of rhino; Black, White, Greater one-horned, Sumatran and Javan rhinos.

It further states that as it is the case with other wild animals, the Rhinoceros has had its well and woe times over the centuries and has been subjected to seemingly perpetual trying times resulting from poaching, climate change and loss of habitat due to urbanisation and statistics indicate that in just a decade, more than 7 137 African rhinos have been lost to poaching which is very alarming.

These poaching incidences are driven by the Asian market appetite for the horn.

Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Nanyuki, Kenya is home to the last three remaining Northern White rhinos; one male and two females which are past the ability to reproduce therefore likely to go extinct.

The three rhinos stay under 24 hour armed guard, states the release

The release applauds the stiff and strict measures enforced to counter poaching in Botswana and Africa at large and also acknowledges other cause-related organisations such as the Rhino Conservation Botswana, Khama Rhino Sanctuary, Okavango Wilderness Safaris, Orapa mine and many other organisations in Botswana in their efforts to conserve Rhinos.

It states that in 2016, KCS in collaboration with Barclays Bank Botswana implemented a project dubbed Rhino Conservation By Youth By All which sought to advance rhino conservation in Botswana through ensuring full participation of all stakeholders to curb poaching and improve local communities’ livelihoods.

KCS hopes to continue, ceaselessly in rendering void the impacts poaching, global warming and loss of habitat by the rhinoceros, as it is indeed their core mandate to promote biodiversity conservation, states the release. ENDS