ERP dehorned 12 rhino in the Rietlvei Nature Reserve in December 2017. The reserve is run by the local municipality who is grossly under-resourced. When ERP took over the management of the Rhino in 2017, there was absolutely no protection in place for the protection of the animals. Three rhinos had been poached during 2017 and ERP decided to step in and secure the live of the remaining individuals.

With the support of Jim’s funding, we were able to conduct the dehorning operation which included the following:

• Appointment of vet to assess population to determine which of the rhinos should be dehorned.
• Obtaining required permits.
• Appointment of Vet and professional dehorning team.
• Appointment of fidelity guards to transport horns to state volts.
• Equipment and material to dehorn rhino.
• Helicopter time was sponsored based on the fact that most of the operation has already been funded.
• Monitoring of rhino after dehorning campaign had been completed.

The end result of this operation was that the potential reward for the poachers was dramatically reduced, making it less attractive for them to poach in the reserve.

This immediately reduced the number of animals poached to zero in the 2017/2018 period, compared to the three that were poach in the 2016/2017 period.