PICTURES: Lonely Pretoria Zoo elephant prepares for life in nature reserve
Black rhinos are critically endangered. Picture: Save the Rhino/Michael Wain
A game ranger student from Scotland was seriously injured after being attacked by a black rhino in northern Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday.
According to IPSS Medical Rescue, the student was on foot in a private game reserve when he was trampled and gored by the rhino.
After being called to the scene, search and rescue teams and anti-poaching units in the area located the student and stabilised him before evacuating him.
He was taken to hospital by private KZN emergency services in a critical condition.
Poaching statistics released in February point to black and white rhino numbers dwindling fast in KZN.
ALSO READ: Black rhino population on slow road to recovery
This while the embattled Ezemvelo Wildlife Board remains suspended.
The board was suspended in August 2020 due to “prima facie allegations”, said tourism and environmental affairs MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube in a statement at the time.
Concrete reasons for the board’s suspension were never revealed, nor whether a new board would be appointed, despite numerous requests for information by The Citizen.
Ezemvelo is responsible for directing biodiversity conservation management in the province and is central to the fight against rhino poaching in the province.
The black rhino, a smaller species than the white rhino, has been critically endangered for most of the 21st century.
ALSO READ: Rhino poachers are winning the war in KZN
Although numbers are increasing slightly when compared to figures provided by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) from the 1990s, the species remains of significant concern to conservation groups.
Here are some fascinating facts about the black rhino, courtesy of organisation Save the Rhino:
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