South Africa marks World Rhino Day as poaching slows but one rhino is killed daily

On World Rhino Day, conservationists say poaching in South Africa has slowed but remains deadly, with about one rhino killed per day. Dinokeng Game Reserve, where a thriving rhino population is protected by a tightly run security operation, keeps exact numbers and security details confidential. Across the country, poachers continue to target rhinos for horn, despite decades of conservation work.

South Africa holds the world's largest populations of both black rhinos and southern white rhinos. The country has more than 2,000 black rhinos among roughly 6,700 remaining in the wild or in reserves, and about 12,000-13,000 southern white rhinos among roughly 15,000 remaining globally; both species are found only in Africa in the wild. Rhinos are distributed across government parks and private reserves like Dinokeng. The nation has made marked progress in the past decade in public-private cooperation, reducing rhino killings from well over 1,000 per year to 420 last year, though poaching is far from over. The Environment Ministry says 195 rhinos were killed by poachers in the first half of this year, averaging about one a day.

To deter poachers, reserves rely on high-tech tools such as drones, night surveillance equipment, radar, motion-sensing cameras and artificial intelligence. Rhinos at Dinokeng are fitted with tracking devices, allowing rangers to know their location, while K-9 dog units accompany patrols. A wildlife monitor and ranger at Dinokeng emphasized that poaching remains a threat and that conservationists must stay hopeful, describing rangers as the last thin green line between extinction and survival.

Some reserves still dehorn rhinos as a deterrent against poaching, reducing the incentive for poachers who prize rhino horn on illicit markets in parts of Asia. In some markets, horn products fetch prices that can exceed even gold when smuggled illegally.

A separate front in the science-driven fight is a program by South African scientists working with the International Atomic Energy Agency to inject small quantities of radioactive material into rhino horns. The aim is to make horns unsellable and detectable if illicitly trafficked across borders, while not harming the animals.

Conservation groups have also moved rhinos to new areas as part of breeding and protection efforts. Peace Parks Foundation has relocated nearly 50 black and white rhinos to Zinave National Park in neighboring Mozambique, a reserve long decimated by poaching. The operation, though expensive and complex, has produced eight rhino calves since the relocation and is described as an incredible success story by Gillian Rhodes, the foundation's combating wildlife crime program manager, though she cautions that rhino poaching rates remain devastating.

South Africa's rhino saga is part of a longer history, including Operation Rhino in the 1960s, which moved some of the last remaining eastern white rhinos to other parts of the country to establish new breeding populations and ensure their survival. The operation is credited with saving the southern white rhino from extinction and has inspired ongoing relocation efforts today.

Globally, rhino conservation faces challenges beyond Africa. The five species include four in Asia, where even smaller populations persist: more than 4,000 greater one-horned rhinos, around 50 Javan rhinos and fewer than 50 Sumatran rhinos remain, according to counts from the International Rhino Foundation.

World Rhino Day was established in 2010 to raise awareness of the threats to rhinos' survival and habitat loss, and to highlight ongoing efforts to protect both African and Asian rhinos.

The fight against poaching remains costly and ongoing, with technology, transboundary collaboration, and innovative science at the fore as conservationists seek to sustain gains and prevent a reversal of decades of progress.