World Rhino Day: Celebrating Those Fighting To Save The Rhino
Almost every child in the world should be able to immediately recognize this magnificent beast, with its heavy grey skin and prominent horn (or horns!) upon its snout. The rhinoceros is a much-loved critter!
World Rhino Day: Celebrating Those Fighting To Save The Rhino
In 2011, a woman named Lisa Jane Campbell fired off an email to Rhishja, a fellow lover of rhinos who wanted to see the five species of rhinos in the world continue to thrive and be there for future generations to enjoy.
Celebrating World Rhino Day starts by people deciding to educate themselves on the plight of rhinoceros in the modern world. In this way, people can figure out what actions they can take to help save those that remain. Try these ideas for celebrating this important day:
In addition to the organizations listed above, Helping Rhinos is a group that pairs people with baby rhinos whose parents are not able to take care of them. Adoption participation is a minimal cost per month or year, and those who want to adopt can choose which baby rhino they want to help support.
Rhinos need a team effort from around the globe to battle poaching, secure habitat, strengthen support for partner nations fighting to save rhinos, and educate people on how they can help. We urge people to join Team Rhino to help execute a game plan that will score wins for the rhino.
Rhinos also often roam in forest gaps, such as those that have been cleared due to fallen trees where regrowth takes place. Rhinos can look for food in the edge of forests, where a lot of seedlings, herbaceous plants, and other food are easily accessible. In order to sustain their lifestyle, rhinos require a diverse range of habitats, including sites for wallowing.
Before the national rescue plan, there were successful captive breeding efforts, such as those taking place in the Way Kambas facility. With collaboration from the Indonesia government and The Rhino Foundation of Indonesia, two rhino calves named Andatu and Delilah were born in 2012 and 2016. Both have been carefully cared for and are growing healthily to this day.
September 22nd is World Rhino Day, and for the first time in this decade long bloody war, I finally see reason to believe we CAN save the rhino. The number one factor enabling wildlife poaching is corruption, and up until 2018, there has been very few tangible breakthroughs in the battle to eliminate the corruption driving rhinos into extinction.
The cost of protecting rhinos is high, largely due to the level of threat the species faces. A rhino horn is estimated to fetch more than gold on the black market, and in 2012 the price had peaked to a horrifying $65,000 per kilogram. Although the price is thought to have since fallen, the publicity around the issue of rhino horn raised concern among conservationists as one of the main factors fueling poaching across the world. The display and detailing of the current price of rhino horn has, therefore, been discouraged by wildlife groups for fear of encouraging poaching.
It's no secret that, at Rhino Africa, we love our rhinos. We've even dubbed ourselves the Rhino Crash! Unfortunately, these real-life unicorns often don't get the love and admiration they deserve. And, as an endangered African species, they could really do with some help from us humans. So, for World Rhino Day 2022 today, we're celebrating them whilst also raising money to empower our Impact Partner Wildlife ACT to continue fighting for their survival. So, take a walk (literally) with us...
World Rhino Day is celebrated annually on 22 September to raise awareness for the five rhino species and the efforts to help save them from extinction. This day was first announced by WWF South Africa in 2010, calling on rhino sanctuaries, NGOs, businesses, and concerned citizens to all come together to raise awareness and funds to help save these species.
Personally, we believe every day should be World Rhino Day! That's why we continue to find ways to support Wildlife ACT in their efforts to save the rhino. You can read more about how them and what they do here.
Rhinos are becoming increasingly rare in the wild, and only continuous efforts to raise awareness, like celebrating Save The Rhino Day, can help this endangered species. Do your bit today to support rhinos.
The spike in awareness such days provide also subsequently raises the amount of help being offered to save the rhinos. These increased efforts could help secure various safe and protected spaces for the rhino to survive and thrive.
At Aquasana, we believe clean water is the most important component of healthy living. While our Whole House Rhino saves you from water contaminants, you can help save the real rhinos and their environment by donating to the cause of your choice on World Rhino Day.
In Africa rhinos are important because of their grazing habits. This helps shape the landscape for all wildlife and the natural resources for the local communities around. The solution for this cause needs to come globally and help those in need.
It was sometime in 2013. I was in South Africa, and spending a weekend in those gorgeous plains along with a team putting in efforts to microchip rhinos. During this activity, we came across an elephant that was snared and struggling, and we worked to rescue the animal.
Dating back to approximately 50 million years ago, over 500,000 rhinos once roamed in many places throughout the world in Europe, Asia, and Africa. However, with persistent poaching and habitat loss, the population has dropped from 70,000 rhinos in 1970, to as low as 29,000 rhinos in the wild today. Currently, the Black, Javan, and Sumatran rhinos are on the list of critically endangered species.
Our dedicated teams of trackers go out on daily patrols to monitor this last truly free-ranging population of black rhino in the world. Winning this battle is only possible if we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with like-minded individuals and organisations to ensure criminals do not destroy a large part of Namibia's natural heritage."
If you enjoyed this presentation on elephants you may like my online course, Sketching Mammals of the World, where I teach you about other types of African mammals including giraffes, rhinoceros, wild dogs, aardvarks, pangolins, meerkats, warthogs, and zebras. My course also includes workshops on other mammals worldwide from bats to whales.
There are a huge number of charities and organisations dedicated to protecting rhinos and caring for those that have been victims of poaching. As awareness of their vulnerability increases, organisations are working with government agencies to support law enforcement agencies, equip and train rangers to stop poachers, develop translocation efforts and prevent further habitat loss. There are also several rhino adoption and donation schemes that provide animal orphanages and key conservation organisations with funds to help protect and preserve these wild animals. These include:
In the 1800s, there were hundreds of thousands of rhinoceroses in Africa alone. Today, there are less than 30,000 worldwide, with two species(opens in a new tab) classified as "critically endangered." According to a recent special investigation by National Geographic(opens in a new tab) in South Africa, where 70% of the total rhino population resides, the death rate from poaching has increased exponentially in the last few years. In 2007, the country reported 13 rhinos killed; in 2015, it was 1,175.
The World Wildlife Fund has been working to save endangered animals in more than 100 countries for 50 years. Donating to its Adopt a Rhino program is one way you can make a difference -- and give a gift at the same time. A $25 African Rhino Adoption Kit gets your loved one a formal adoption certificate, a 5-by-7 color photo, a rhino spotlight card with great species fun facts, a personalized acknowledgment letter and free priority shipping. Larger adoption packages ($55, $100, $250) contain other goodies, including adorable rhino plush dolls in varying sizes.
"World Rhino Day is an opportunity to highlight the efforts being made to fight the scourge of rhino poaching around the world and to debunk the myths and reduce the demand for rhino horn." These are the words of acting head of communications SANParks, Paul Daphne commenting on the organisation's celebrations of the third annual World Rhino Day on 22 September 2012 worldwide.
As many elementary-school children prepare to graduate this summer, the fifth graders of PS 107 John W. Kimball Learning Center in Park Slope, Brooklyn, are working on an even bigger challenge. They have just become published authors as a way to help save endangered rhinos.
During the poaching wars of the 1970s and 1980s, black rhino numbers in Kenya fell from an estimated 20,000 to just 300. But thanks to aggressive conservation those numbers rose slowly in the decades that followed and today, Kenya is one of the best places to see a rhino in the wild. 076b4e4f54