South African white rhino reintroduced to DR Congo park

Sixteen white rhinos from South Africa were reintroduced this week in the Garamba National Park, in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congowhere the species, decimated by the poachinghad not been seen since 2006, project promoters announced Saturday.

The 16 specimens, from the &Beyond Phinda private reserve, in the South African province of KwaZulu Natal (southeast), and transported by plane to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are subspecies of the “southern white rhino” while, in the past, those who inhabited the Garamba were “northern white rhino”.

The southern white rhino is expected to “adapts and fulfills (in the ecosystem of the park) the same role that the northern white rhino occupied, now extinct”, those responsible for the operation wrote in a statement.

Sponsors include the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN), the environmental protection organization African Parks and the Canadian mining group Barrick Gold Corporation.

Created in 1938, the Garamba Park, one of the oldest in Africa, has seen its fauna decimated over the years by regional conflicts, poaching, ivory trafficking and chronic insecurity.

Source: AFP

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