Are Rhinos Becoming Too Expensive To Keep?

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Private game reserves are mostly self-funded in South Africa and the cost of keeping rhinos safe from poachers is becoming prohibitively expensive for many private rhino reserves.

Depending on the size of the operation, private game reserves that have a resident rhino population might need to employ the services of a specialist security company to protect the rhinos. Typically, such a company would have to deploy between 10 and 15 trained and armed game guards who go out on patrol. The use of trained tracker dogs has also been instituted in many game reserves and parks.

Some security companies carry out undercover operations to infiltrate poaching syndicates, or use air patrols or drones to track down poachers. Such services are expensive, ranging from R30 000 to R100 000 a month, depending on how many security guards are deployed by the security company.

Expenses such as these are an added burden on private game reserves and have a negative impact on their long-term viability. These costs are incurred over and above their general running costs, such as wildlife management and monitoring, repairs and maintenance to fences, roads and other infrastructure, and large community lease payments.

In 2016, it was estimated by Project African Rhino that the cost of rhino security on private, state and some national reserves amounted to close to R1,2 billion a year. The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) had an anti-poaching budget of R200 million for the Kruger National Park (KNP) alone in 2016.