South Africa gets air support in fighting rhino poaching

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White Rhinos

South Africa has received a brand new Airbus AS-350B3e helicopter with night flying capability, which is expected to enhance anti-rhino poaching operations, authorities said on Thursday.

white rhinos
white rhinos

This sophisticated helicopter was made available with funding from the US-based Howard G Buffet Foundation (HGBF), the South African National Parks (SANParks) said.
This will further increase the capacity of SANParks’ rhino anti- poaching flight operations in the Kruger National Parks (KNP), one of Africa’s biggest game reserves in northeastern South Africa, SANParks Board Chairperson Kuseni Dlamini said in a statement.
This is the second helicopter delivered from the HGBF. South Africa purchased the first helicopter in September 2014.
“In addition to increasing our current flight crew capability of flying at night, the helicopter is expected to improve our response time in dealing with contacts and other incidents in the Park,” Dlamini said.
“We have just taken delivery of this second helicopter and we are commissioning it today to go into action in the fight against rhino poaching.
“In accordance with the much needed aerial support to the anti- poaching teams around the clock, this helicopter will further assist in quick tactical response particularly at night where we have been lacking due to limited resources, therefore it is only proper to thank HGBF for bringing this much needed resource in our fight to curb poaching.”
The KNP bears the brunt of rhino poaching, losing 672 rhinos in 2014. Nationwide, 1,215 rhinos were slaughtered for their horns last year.
As an integral part of the current strategy to combat rhino poaching in the KNP, the SANParks is in a process of applying and evaluating various technologies which include Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s), according to Dlamini.
This aims at investigating the effectiveness of various UAV technologies as instruments in rhino protection efforts under a range of operational conditions, he said.
The UAV project will run for a full year and by the end of the project the park will have a lot of information about the use of available technology in anti-poaching operations and be able to make informed decision on what is best for the environment, according to Dlamini.
The testing of UAV technology in the KNP is implemented as one component of a suite of anti-poaching initiatives supported by the Rhino Protection Program (RPP), which is a collaborative effort between the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), SANParks, Ezemvelo KZN (KwaZulu-Natal) Wildlife (Ezemvelo), and Peace Parks Foundation (PPF). Enditem

Source: Xinhua

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