Helping Rhinos, together with our project-partner the Zululand Rhino Orphanage (ZRO), are thrilled to announce the recent rewilding of three of our rhino orphans.
Following a number of years under the expert care of the team at ZRO, orphans Bindi, Vikela and Mnene were ready to return to the wild. This is the ultimate goal for all our orphans, and brings the total number of successfully rescued, rehabilitated and rewilded rhino orphans up to eleven since 2019.
Rewilding is a long process that involves a lot of hard work with many challenges along the way but is essential for the future survival of this species, and the wellbeing of our orphaned rhinos.
The successful rewilding of Bindi, Vikela and Mnene would not have been possible without the support of our rhino adopters and generous donors, thank you for helping to make this momentous achievement a reality.
THE IMPORTANCE OF REWILDING RHINOS
Releasing rhino orphans back into the wild is a key part of rhino conservation and integral to the future of the species. Returning orphaned rhinos to the wild not only boosts populations numbers, but helps to ensure greater genetic diversity and healthy ecosystems due to rhinos being a keystone species.
The Zululand Rhino Orphanage is the only dedicated rhino rescue and rehabilitation facility in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province – the current global epicentre of rhino poaching and plays a key role in the future of the area’s rhino population.
At ZRO, the orphaned rhinos go through an extensive rehabilitation process, from the moment they arrive as vulnerable and weak calves needing critical care to helping older calves learn how to become wild again. The dedicated care team teach these calves everything their mothers would to prepare them for adulthood and their eventual return to the wild.
PREPARATION FOR REWILDING AND POST RELEASE MONITORING
When our older orphans reach the stage where they are ready to be rewilded, usually at around 3-5 years old, there is a great deal of preparation to ensure that the release is successful. The rewilding programme aims to ensure that rhinos are released into healthy ecosystems and suitable areas for breeding where poaching levels are low and where there is effective 24-hour anti-poaching security.
Prior to release, the rhino orphans are de-horned and receive a thorough veterinary examination as well as being fitted with radio tracking devices so that they can be monitored once released.
Once released, they are watched over by trained rhino monitors who look for them every day using telemetry to locate them. White rhinos are grazers and these rhino orphans will initially receive supplementary food such as teff, lucerne or pellets to ensure that they stay in good condition while they adjust to life in the wild. The monitoring in the first 12 months is quite intense as it is essential that they are given time to settle under the safe but distant watch of those who once cared for them.
BINDI, VIKELA AND MNENE’S JOURNEY TO A LIFE IN THE WILD
With the expert care, attention and dedication from the orphanage staff, and the support of Helping Rhinos’ incredible adopters and donors, these three young rhinos have transformed from vulnerable, orphaned calves, to grown rhinos with a strong social bond, ready to return to the wild. Here’s a reminder of how they got to this stage:
AT LAST these guys return to where they should've been for the last 3 years. Since mom was brutally taken away from them they've only known captivity, and eventually, they can roam the veld like these majestic animals should do.
A LIFE BACK IN THE WILD
Following a successful capture and release all three orphans moved off happily to explore their new wild home. While it is still early days, we are happy that all three are adapting well and are sticking together as a crash. These are all encouraging signs and show the strength of the social bond these three have formed. Regular follow-ups will be done by the monitors to ensure Bindi, Vikela and Mnene continue to adapt well to life in the wild, just as our previously re-wilded orphans have.
BINDI, VIKELA AND MNENE STILL NEED YOUR HELP
Even though Bindi, Vikela and Mnene are living as wild rhinos once more, our support of their welfare does not stop.
The trio may be now living in the wild, but they still need your support. An orphaned rhino needs help for life. Like the resources required when they were young vulnerable calves, the cost of monitoring them in the wild is still borne by ZRO and Helping Rhinos.
Through our Rhino Orphan Adoption Programme Helping Rhinos provides funding to care for the orphans from the moment they arrive at the orphanage to the monitoring and support they receive once they return to the wild.
Funds raised from adoptions are used to help cover monitoring costs such as vehicle use and maintenance, telemetry sets, binoculars and cameras to assess the rewilded rhinos’ condition, as well as any supplementary food they might require, ensuring they stay in good condition.
The success of the rewilding programme is a great achievement and plays a key role for the future of rhinos in this region, but it is only possible with your support.
Thank you once again to all our adopters and donors who have helped us transform orphans like Bindi, Vikela and Mnene from vulnerable young calves to thriving adults, living in the wild where they belong, with the chance to contribute to the long-term survival of their species.
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