S. Africa seeks different approach to save rhino -- selling them

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S. Africa seeks different approach to save rhino -- selling them

(Xinhua) 20:33, September 09, 2013

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Facing mounting rhino poaching despite an intensified crackdown, the South African government is trying a different approach to save the endangered specie -- selling them.

This was revealed on Monday by Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa.

The Kruger National Park (KNP) has sold 170 white rhinos to private ranches over the last two years, the minister told MPs in response to a question about rhino poaching.

This was necessary to improve the conservation status of white rhino in the country by establishing rhino population on private ranches, she said.

The minister said the KNP has been a target of rhino poaching because of its long international boundary.

The KNP has lost 381 rhinos to poaching since the beginning of this year, the latest official statistics show.

It is therefore important to increase the white rhino population in South Africa through selling some of them, and ultimately conserving its population status in the country, Molewa said.

Selling rhinos could also generate income for the KNP, Molewa said.

She, however, said no black rhinos have been sold.

Black rhinos are a critically endangered species, of which fewer than 5,000 remain in the wild worldwide.

South Africa is home to more than 70 percent of the world's rhino population. But illegal poaching stoked by growing demand for rhino horns has diminished South Africa's rhino population, which currently stands at about 10,000.