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80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species
      #281261 - 21/04/16 05:22 AM

80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species



BY SHANNON VERHAGEN |APRIL 07, 2016
Australia is set to be a sanctuary for Africa’s endangered rhinos as poaching operations escalate, killing record numbers for Asia’s illegal horn trade.

IN A WORLD-FIRST conservation effort, 80 African rhinos will be flown to Australia over the next four years to establish an insurance population for the threatened mammals.

It is an ambitious mission – costing $70,000 per rhino and requiring each animal to spend several months in quarantine under the watchful eyes of the South African and Australian Departments of Agriculture.

The Australian Rhino Project was founded in 2013 by South African-born Australian Ray Dearlove, with the aim to establish a breeding herd of black and white rhinos in Australia that will be able to be reintroduced to Africa once the threat of poaching decreases.

New ideas for saving rhinos
Dr Roan Plotz, who undertook his PhD in black rhinos, believes tackling the extraordinary poaching crisis requires out-of-the-box approaches such as the Australian Rhino Project, and breaking the demand for rhino horn in Asia.

But he believes the success of the project will be determined by time and money, and says there is a host of issues to consider – including breeding success and upon reintroduction to Africa, predators, starvation and intra-specific competition, in which members of the same species compete for limited resources.



Baby white rhino photographed in South Africa. (Image: Shannon Wild)

“I think new ideas are absolutely needed to tackle the poaching crisis and make no mistake with the Australian Rhino Project – while a great idea and I applaud their efforts – there is no guarantee that it will ensure the survival of rhino, even if it becomes the last viable population,” Roan said.

Ray stressed the project is not the be-all and end-all of rhino conservation, but one strategy that can contribute to the animals’ survival. “I know that six is not going to change the world, but it’s at least six that won’t be killed,” he said, adding that the first six will be the test that the rhinos can be relocated safely.

Home away from home
Once reaching Australian soil, the rhinos will be taken to Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, NSW, where they will spend two months in quarantine, before most likely being relocated to Monarto Zoo’s safari park near Adelaide.

Ray said the partnership with Taronga was win-win – not only does it aid the conservation of the species, it also provides genetic diversity for the zoo’s resident rhino population.

GALLERY: Wildlife in Africa
Australian endangered species list
However, August’s relocation is just the beginning – after the first six are settled, Ray hopes to keep momentum and have another 74 flown down under in the next four years.

Considerable space is required in order to keep the animals relatively ‘wild’ and, while discussions are under way, it is not yet finalised where the remainder will be homed.

“We have a number of opportunities in WA, in the Northern Territory and New South Wales and potentially one in Queensland,” Ray said.

Why Australia?
Although unconvinced anywhere is 100 per cent safe for the animals, Ray said he believes Australia’s strong border-security, the lack of comparable poverty and poaching-free history will make it a much safer option.

Roan adds that Australia provides a range of positives as the rhinos’ home away from home – a similar climate and habitat to Africa, vegetation with the potential to be used as browse, a lack of diseases and parasites that the animals would normally be exposed to and protection from poaching.

“Australia has abundant safety, land, resources (money, people) and is outside of the traditional poaching syndicate links,” he said, adding, “also – Australia will be harder and not as viable an option for syndicates to set up and travel to target one population.”

9000% increase in poaching
More than a million of the iconic animals once roamed the African Savannah, but today the white rhino population is estimated at about 20,000, while the black rhino is in even more strife – with only about 5000 remaining.

It wasn’t long ago that things were looking up for the African rhinos – hefty conservation efforts last century saw the white rhino population recuperate from less than 100 individuals to the 20,000 alive today, bringing it back from the brink of extinction.

However, the escalation of sophisticated poaching operations is posing a huge threat to their existence. “They talk about a ‘tipping point’ – when the kill rate of rhinos exceeds the birth rate,” Ray said.

Bringing Borneo back
Australia's wildlife blackmarket trade
Rhino horn is highly valued in traditional Asian medicine, believed to cure a range of ailments, and can fetch up to $500,000 each – leading to record numbers being killed across the continent.

The figures are staggering – in 2007, 13 South African rhinos fell victim to poachers, but by 2014, that number had jumped to a record 1,215 – a 9000% increase.

“The demand from countries such as Vietnam and China seems to be insatiable – it really does,” Ray said. “So I pray for that, because in many ways there shouldn’t be a need for the Australian Rhino Project – that’s the reality. But since that’s the situation we’ve found ourselves in, if we can do our little bit here in Australia – and I think Australians will – then I think that it’s worth doing.”

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/n...to-save-species

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NitroXAdministrator
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: NitroX]
      #281262 - 21/04/16 05:27 AM

Quote:

Home away from home
Once reaching Australian soil, the rhinos will be taken to Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, NSW, where they will spend two months in quarantine, before most likely being relocated to Monarto Zoo’s safari park near Adelaide.




Cool if that happens.

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John aka NitroX

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Well_Well_Well
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: NitroX]
      #281286 - 21/04/16 09:02 AM

Large African mammals don't have a great history in Australia, they tend to be vulnerable to various bacterial and viral problems unique to the landscape.

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twobobbwana
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: Well_Well_Well]
      #281298 - 21/04/16 10:35 AM

Perhaps we need rhinos and giraffe to keep the acacia under control in south West Queensland...............and then Lion to keep the rhino and giraffe under control.

"What could possibly go wrong".

They'd be a bloody lot more interesting to encounter than Cane toads.


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Mike_Bailey
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: twobobbwana]
      #281317 - 21/04/16 05:14 PM

I must confess I have thought about this a few times. The Northern territories are huge, I would have thought it would be quite a profitable idea to bring a load of stuff over, breed them and allow licenced hunting, not just Rhino, Cape Buff etc etc. OK, you are not hunting Africa but it would be similar to one of those Texas ranches and more importantly, preserve a number of species. I think I read somewhere that there are one or two species of antelope that are now extinct in their indigenous Africa but are now found in Texas ! Can't remember the species though, rgds

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NitroXAdministrator
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: Mike_Bailey]
      #281336 - 21/04/16 10:30 PM

Mike

I believe Arabian Oriyx are also in the NT. Plus a number of species. Reports of eland being there inbreeding for many decades. Other bovines.

If I was a flithy rich multi multi millionnaire I would blow my wealth on a huge game hunting reserve and outback mancave mansion ...

Too many Africans in Africa and they have a knack for fucking everything up ....

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Ripp
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: NitroX]
      #281344 - 21/04/16 11:05 PM

Quote:

Mike

I believe Arabian Oriyx are also in the NT. Plus a number of species. Reports of eland being there inbreeding for many decades. Other bovines.

If I was a flithy rich multi multi millionnaire I would blow my wealth on a huge game hunting reserve and outback mancave mansion ...

Too many Africans in Africa and they have a knack for fucking everything up ....




Unfortunately they don't just fuck things up in Africa.. look no further that our current leader over here..But agree--they seem totally incapable of getting shit done..places there that are the same they were 200 yrs ago...

Ripp

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NitroXAdministrator
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: Ripp]
      #281349 - 21/04/16 11:15 PM

An African is running the USA. What do you expect?

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ducmarc
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: NitroX]
      #281384 - 22/04/16 11:03 AM

Not for long.wonder why they haven't done this sooner.wish they would dump out some cape buffalo here in florida.we already have African cow birds',toads,bees and melaleuca trees.but I think they came from u guys.

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'killed by death' Lemmy.. ' boil the dog ' Elvis Manywounds "my best friend is my magnum forty four" hank willams the third.


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Ash
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: NitroX]
      #281396 - 22/04/16 04:15 PM

Quote:

An African is running the USA. What do you expect?




I was hoping Carson would get in.. But i think he's dropped out?

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500Boswell
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: Ash]
      #281399 - 22/04/16 04:25 PM

They should take all rhinos out of the wild ,until in the future when something changes ,keeping them in the wild to please the Greenies is nuts and spending a fortune on armed guards to keep an eye on them ,just madness

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Rule303
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: ducmarc]
      #281400 - 22/04/16 06:16 PM

Quote:

Not for long.wonder why they haven't done this sooner.wish they would dump out some cape buffalo here in florida.we already have African cow birds',toads,bees and melaleuca trees.but I think they came from u guys.




Yeah the Melaleuca are from us. Then your guys wanted to get rid of then/control then and your wild flora brainiacs-same as ours- didn't bother asking how to do this and tried to use fire to get rid of them. Well that only worked in spreading them as that is how they have evolved. I wish supposed wild life experts the world over would swallow their pride and ask locals how and what works with regard to anything they are looking at.

I hope the Rhino project works.

500Boswell, I agree.

Edited by Rule303 (22/04/16 06:16 PM)


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Homer
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: Rule303]
      #281411 - 23/04/16 08:09 AM

G'Day Fella's,

I wonder how long it will take, before "some" start poaching them here in Oz?
You can never get away from the "Supply and Demand" of capitalism, and there is obviously still heaps of Asian Demand!!!

Double Doh!!
Homer

--------------------
"Beware the Lolly Pop of Mediocrity,
Lick it Once and You Will Suck Forever"


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ducmarc
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: Homer]
      #281421 - 23/04/16 12:37 PM

a couple of hurricanes blew melaleuca all over the everglades ha. really hard on your breathing about 3 times a year down on the south end. will rhinos procreate in captivtiy? i'm assuming so arn't they related to the elephant.

--------------------
'killed by death' Lemmy.. ' boil the dog ' Elvis Manywounds "my best friend is my magnum forty four" hank willams the third.


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albertan
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: ducmarc]
      #283502 - 06/06/16 02:57 PM

I believe it is time to raise rhinos like cattle and harvest the horns like you do with beef and dairy products. By raising large numbers of the animals in a variety of locations and countries the gene pool will be expanded.

The number of animal species that withstand inbreeding are few indeed. I am sure that our politicians show this statement to be true. I believe if this large scale rhino ranching is not brought into being promptly some weird disease is going to wipe out these magnificent beasts because of a weak genetic pool.

As for the poachers, the buyers of the illicit horns, the government, police, and military officials that sponsor these bastards, burning them at the stake would be too kind.


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Well_Well_Well
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: albertan]
      #283504 - 06/06/16 04:30 PM

There's a lot of merit in all that.

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Yochanan
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: Well_Well_Well]
      #283508 - 06/06/16 06:30 PM

Great news. I think they should move populations of endangered species from Africa to Australia.

I wonder the tiger could be saved in a similar way.

Welcome to Darwins land - Australia

--------------------
© "I have never been able to appreciate 'shock' as applied to killing big game. It seems to me that you cannot kill an elephant weighing six tons by ´shock´unless you advocate the use of a field gun." - W.D.M. Bell: Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter.


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Jim_C
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: albertan]
      #283532 - 06/06/16 11:15 PM

Quote:

I believe it is time to raise rhinos like cattle and harvest the horns like you do with beef and dairy products. By raising large numbers of the animals in a variety of locations and countries the gene pool will be expanded.




I agree with the idea of raising rhinos on the beef/dairy cattle model, but there are a couple of potential glitches.

No matter how widely dispersed the population is, we can't really "expand" the gene pool--that is going to be limited by the size of the population some years back, when the population was around 100 individuals (with many of them being related). The best that can be hoped for is to preserve the remaining genetic variability by expanding the population through breeding every individual as widely as possible.

This genetic goal conflicts with the economic model used. Rhino horns can only be harvested once; after that, it has no economic value other than as breeding stock. In cattle, this is solved by using females and a limited number of males for breeding--"surplus" males, of course, are castrated (removing them from the gene pool) and used for beef. This isn't a problem with cattle due to the size of the cattle gene pool, but that model does cause problems when you begin with a small gene pool.

In animals like pure-bred dogs, this is a well-known problem. Starting from an already-limited gene pool (due to closed breed books), followed by breeding (most) females to a limited number of males, eventually results in a highly-inbred population. In turn, this can result in the surfacing of a number of previously-rare or unknown genetic problems, such as high rates of orthopedic problems or propensities toward various cancers.

We can see a wild example of the same thing in the problems found in cheetahs. Low sperm counts/motility and other breeding problems, susceptibility to various diseases, and deformities like bent limbs and cramped teeth. These problems are believed to be a result of a past genetic bottleneck, probably back in the last ice age. Cheetahs show that in the right environment this isn't a totally limiting factor for the survival of the species, but it sure doesn't help.

Edited by Jim_C (07/06/16 12:00 AM)


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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: Jim_C]
      #283536 - 07/06/16 12:49 AM

Quote:

In animals like pure-bred dogs, this is a well-known problem. Starting from an already-limited gene pool (due to closed breed books), followed by breeding (most) females to a limited number of males, eventually results in a highly-inbred population. In turn, this can result in the surfacing of a number of previously-rare or unknown genetic problems, such as high rates of orthopedic problems or propensities toward various cancers.





This also happens with fish stocks in NA - principally steelhead - whole river's populations wiped out due to years of hatchery programs using too few 'parent fish'(4 TO 6) for the thousands upon thousands of hatchery fish released 'back' into the system. Instead of dying off during their early growth due to defects as would happen in the wild, they are artificially kept alive in the confines of the hatchery. After a while, the entire stock die off on the high seas from compounded genetic problems - weak hearts, kidneys, weak fins - whatever.

It would take rhinos a lot longer, of course, due to the numbers in the que.

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Daryl


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Ripp
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: Well_Well_Well]
      #283543 - 07/06/16 05:09 AM

Quote:

There's a lot of merit in all that.




Agree...

Ripp

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Well_Well_Well
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: Jim_C]
      #283569 - 07/06/16 10:22 AM

Quote:



Rhino horns can only be harvested once; after that, it has no economic value other than as breeding stock.







I am led to believe that this may not be the case, depending on the method of harvesting. I'm not entirely convinced but I hope it is so.

Otherwise, I'm in violent agreement with your post.


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larcher
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Re: 80 rhinos headed for Australia in bold move to save species [Re: DarylS]
      #283677 - 10/06/16 05:44 AM

Quote:

Quote:

In animals like pure-bred dogs, this is a well-known problem. Starting from an already-limited gene pool (due to closed breed books), followed by breeding (most) females to a limited number of males, eventually results in a highly-inbred population. In turn, this can result in the surfacing of a number of previously-rare or unknown genetic problems, such as high rates of orthopedic problems or propensities toward various cancers.





This also happens with fish stocks in NA - principally steelhead - whole river's populations wiped out due to years of hatchery programs using too few 'parent fish'(4 TO 6) for the thousands upon thousands of hatchery fish released 'back' into the system. Instead of dying off during their early growth due to defects as would happen in the wild, they are artificially kept alive in the confines of the hatchery. After a while, the entire stock die off on the high seas from compounded genetic problems - weak hearts, kidneys, weak fins - whatever.

It would take rhinos a lot longer, of course, due to the numbers in the que.




thanks for being so honest. Exactly the news we wouldn't hear.
For sure, I am very enthralled of rhinos being raised in Australia, because of two indisputed facts.
first, Australia has a incredible background of being able to support exogenous game or beasts of burden.
Second, Australians, huntingwise are very adaptable and respectuf of laws.
In my naive opinion,it' a bright future

--------------------
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