Saving the last of our planet’s rhinos: The case of the white rhino

For decades, rhinos have been targeted and killed by illegal wildlife trade gangs for their horns, which in Southeast Asia and China are falsely believed to have medicinal powers.

The demand is huge and since the 2000s poaching has become a crisis across the African continent, particularly in South Africa, where the majority of surviving white rhinos live. Rhino horn is now worth more than gold on the black market!

With no end to the onslaught in sight, drastic and innovative measures are being taken to save the last of our planet’s rhinos. Steps include horn trimming, extensive anti-poaching patrol unit deployments and even embryo fertilisation.

We speak with Dr Lynne Mactavish, who runs Mankwe Wildlife Reserve in South Africa, and Jon A Juárez, a wildlife and conservation photographer, to find out more.

What’s happening to the world’s rhinos?

Few rhino populations have been more decimated than that of the northern white rhino. Only two female individuals survive.

A long history of habitat loss and poaching led this subspecies to become extinct across Uganda, Chad, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The two individuals that remain today, Najin and Fatu, were relocated from Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic to Ol Pejeta, Kenya, where they live in a secure reserve.

What's being done to save northern white rhinos?

The future appeared bleak for the world’s last two northern white rhinos, but then came the BioRescue Project. Led by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, this innovative programme develops advanced reproduction technologies for saving critically endangered mammals.

The project works with IVF techniques, so far creating more than 30 northern white rhino embryos using oocytes from Fatu and frozen sperm cells from deceased males. Southern white rhinos are then used as surrogate mothers for the embryos due to health issues with Najin and Fatu.

Photographer Jon A Juárez has been working with the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research since 2020. Jon’s always been fascinated by nature and science. But he says it wasn’t until recent years that he discovered how “photography not only captures nature’s beauty, but also opens a window into the complex realities that threaten it – helping us understand, care and ultimately protect it”.

During his time with the Institute, Jon’s played a vital role in bringing attention to the last of the northern white rhinos and the drastic measures being taken to save them.

His photograph How to Save a Species highlights the BioRescue Project’s first successful rhino embryo transfer into a surrogate mother through IVF. It won the Photojournalism Category in our sixty-first Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition and featured in the Guardian’s selection of “photos that tell the story of the century so far”.

Working at Ol Pejeta reserve was a profound experience for Jon.

“Standing in front of Najin and Fatu, the last two northern white rhinos, was very special,” he says. “But getting to work with them meant something completely different. When you stand before these resilient creatures, so close to vanishing, you feel a fragile mix of wonder and sadness.”

The reserve has encountered many challenges, including the release of deadly bacteria that were left in the ground from past farming of the land. Team members have had to sacrifice time with their families to protect the rhinos 24 hours a day.

“You have humans doing their best to protect the rhinos, but humans have also put them into that situation,” says Jon. “You have the best and the worst of humanity.”

With time ticking, the BioRescue Project continues to work hard to reverse humanity’s impact on northern white rhinos. But it should never have gotten to this point, and what about their counterpart, the southern white rhino?

What about southern white rhinos?

Dr Lynne Mactavish, Director of Endangered Rhino Conservation, has led Mankwe Wildlife Reserve in South Africa with her father, Dougal Mactavish, since the early days of its creation more than 25 years ago.

The area was once used as a buffer zone for an explosives factory. The introduction of southern white rhinos has been a huge success, with 43 calves born on the reserve. These rhinos have helped repopulate other reserves and create a healthy and thriving rhino herd at Mankwe.

However, Mankwe’s success is just one glimmer of hope in an otherwise gloomy outlook for southern white rhinos.

To address the long-term problem of rhino poaching in South Africa, the country has flitted between banning and legalising the domestic sale of rhino horn. Today, domestic trade is legal, but international trade, which has been illegal since 1977, is where money can be made. Increasing demand from Asian markets has turned the poaching crisis into an onslaught.

Rhino horn is now one of the most prized commodities on the planet and is worth more than gold. This has encouraged the involvement of criminal gangs and terrorist organisations, who stop at nothing to secure horn for the black market.

The demand is mainly from Southeast Asia and China for false medicinal purposes. It’s led to an exponential rise in rhino poaching, with a growth of more than 9,000% in South Africa between 2007 and 2014. While levels have more than halved since then, at least one rhino is still being killed each day.

Lynne describes the situation as “absolutely catastrophic” and “the biggest challenge we face”.

After losing five rhinos in 2014 to a brutal poaching attack, Lynne decided the only way forward was to trim the horns of her rhinos, who she describes as like family members.

“Morally I had felt it was wrong to dehorn them,” she explains. “Sadly that is a decision I will now regret for the rest of my life – because we didn’t trim their horns, it cost five rhinos their lives.”

“When you’re staring at an animal you love and you see the horror they have been through, you quickly realise the only thing to do is to remove the thing that is killing them, which is their horn.”

Horn trimming is a painless, quick procedure that’s done by a professional vet with sedatives for the rhino. Lynne describes the process as “like going to the dentist – your mouth is numbed so you feel no pain”.

However, horn trimming is extremely expensive. A helicopter is needed to locate and dart the rhino, as well as a full team of vets and assistants. The reserve has to pay the full cost of this.

But the problem doesn’t stop there. As Lynne explains, “if you trim a rhino’s horn, it doesn’t mean you can just walk away and the rhino will be safe. You need to establish anti-poaching measures because only then do you give the rhino an 80% better chance of survival.”

Over the years, Lynne has built her anti-poaching unit to be an incredible team alongside a stellar line-up of dogs who are “the first line of defence”.

“We have invested heavily in dogs,” adds Lynne, “with 20 now onsite, such as Malinois, bloodhounds and German shepherds. Their senses are extremely powerful, so we rely heavily on our dogs. They’re an amazing deterrent for poachers.”

However, not all reserves have what it takes to protect the last of our planet’s rhinos,

Lynne explains that “South Africa has become the last stronghold for [white] rhinos. We own about 80% of the population and 52% of those are on private reserves like Mankwe... but many of them have been forced to give up, which is absolutely devastating.”

The personal danger from poachers and the huge financial expenditure are just some of the reasons why reserves are giving up.

Lynne estimates that the cost of keeping one rhino alive each year is around £25,000, which she describes as “unsustainable”. It’s not just private reserves that are struggling either. “Our national parks are the same,” says Lynne. “They’ve been driven into the ground trying to protect rhinos.”

At Mankwe, giving southern white rhinos a safe space from the threats outside the reserve boundary has been far from easy, but Lynne refuses to give up.

“After we lost rhinos in 2014, it’s become my whole purpose in life to try and save them from extinction,” she says. “It’s my mission to educate as many people [as possible] around the world on the plight of the rhino.”

Lynne has done exactly that and today hosts a busy programme of volunteers and groups at the reserve, as well as giving talks around the world. The income she receives from hosting volunteers is a lifeline to keep the reserve going – particularly the horn trimming, which costs thousands and must be done every year.

What more can be done to save rhinos?

Lynne believes current methods are unsustainable, but that “the very thing that’s killing the rhino, could actually be what saves them”.

"The costs of protecting rhinos are going up every year, such as the fuel cost for patrol vehicles, for example. Everything is skyrocketing. Alongside that, the value of a living, breathing rhino has crashed, so it’s no longer a good financial investment for anyone.”

“However, prior to [South Africa’s domestic trade ban], everyone was investing in rhinos, and an alive rhino was worth a lot of money. We need to make the living rhino worth more than its horn, and only then will we be able to save them from extinction.”

Legalising the international rhino horn trade is advocated for by The Private Rhino Association of South Africa, as well as similar organisations in other African countries. They believe that the ban on the trade of rhino horn should be lifted, with trade going through a corruption-free central selling system.

They argue that this would allow the black market to fall away and the price of a rhino’s horn to decrease and stabilise. For the first time in almost 20 years, the risk of poaching a rhino would finally switch to be more than the reward. Opponents dispute this, however. They say that allowing trade would stimulate further demand and increase the amount of poaching.

For now at least, Lynne sees legalisation as something worth trying.

“It sounds crazy”, says Lynne, “but this is a pure economic war, and we are trying to fight it with emotions. Nobody wants to put a monetary value on a rhino. No one wants to trade in its horn. But what we need to understand is that whilst there is such huge demand for rhino horn, there will always be trade. Are we going to let the illegal trade carry on, or are we going to squash it with legal trade?”

It’s understood that, due to the level of demand, rhinos would still need their horns trimmed regardless of law changes to protect them from poaching. But legalising the trade of the trimmed horns would allow them to be sold, releasing a vital income for cash-strapped reserves such as Mankwe.

Lynne says “If we are able to sell the [trimmed] horn, we can continue protecting the rhino for many years to come. Without this, we and other reserves will be forced to give up in the next 10 years. We will see the rhino go extinct.”

Like Lynne, other reserve owners are looking at this as a short-term solution to combat the losing battle against illegal poaching and the inflated price of rhino horn. But no one wants this to be the case.

In the long term, what’s clear is that demand must be reduced. As Lynne says, “if I never had to dehorn a rhino again in my life, it would be the happiest day of my life. But these are emergency measures that we need to take.”

Is there hope for rhinos?

In a world of such turbulence and often gloomy statistics, it can be hard not to lose hope for the last of our planet’s rhinos, but there’s reason not to.

Jon’s an optimist. “We have destroyed almost everything, but it is up to us to make up for it and protect it. We need humans and there are many inspiring humans out there working tirelessly to protect nature. It’s an honour to work with these people and it motivates you to keep on fighting. It is important not to give up hope, and not only hope, but action.”

If you’ve been inspired and want to do something to help, there are various charities working to protect rhinos across the planet who would welcome your support. For example, Lynne’s charity Endangered Rhino Conservation, plus Save the Rhino International, the International Rhino Foundation, Tusk, Helping Rhinos and WWF.

Lynne will continue with the powerful educational work she’s running on the reserve, with more than 400 students visiting every year. But she believes an anti-demand campaign needs to be delivered by the countries creating the demand for rhino horn, rather than the western world.

She explains that “we need to find a way to have the campaign driven by people within Southeast Asia. We need to inspire the next generation.”

Recently, Lynne hosted her first school from Southeast Asia on the reserve, so the brighter future might just be ahead.