Rhinos return to Mozambique after years of extinction

Rhinos are once again wandering the wilds of Mozambique, more than 40 years after being extinct. The country brought the endangered animals from South Africa to bring new life to its parks and increase tourism.

Rangers caught, sedated, and moved black and white rhinos over 1,000 miles (1,610 km) to Mozambique’s Zinave National Park, which has over 400,000 hectares and more than 2,300 other reintroduced animals.

“Rhinos are important to the ecosystem, that’s why we’re moving them all this way and making all these efforts to get them there,” said Kester Vickery, a conservationist in charge of moving the rhinos.

The Peace Parks Foundation (PPF), which is in charge of the operation, wants to move more than 40 rhinos to Mozambique in the next two years.

Wildlife in Zinave National Park was decimated by Mozambique’s decades-long civil war, which ended in 1992, and by poaching.

Anthony Alexander, project manager, said that the group had already brought in some predators and a lot of elephants to the park and that it was now time to bring in rhinos.

“It’s very exciting to have all of the historical species in the park at once,” added Alexander.

This project is part of a larger effort to save endangered species by moving them to safe places where they can grow their numbers.

Zinave is now the only national park in Mozambique to house all “Big Five” African game animals—elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards and buffalo.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the African black rhino as critically endangered while classifying the white rhino as near-threatened.