80 African Rhinos May Fly To Australia To Escape Poachers

One man wants to take the issue of poaching by its horn.
Ray Dearlove, a retired South African sales executive, hopes to airlift 80 rhinos from South Africa to Australia in the next four years, in an attempt to save the species from poaching. His organization, called The Australian Rhino Project, aims to establish a breeding herd of rhinos in Australia as an “insurance population,” in case poachers wipe out the species. “For right now, I just want to get them to Australia, get them into an environment where they feel comfortable enough to breed and we’ll see what happens from there,” Dearlove told The Huffington Post. But getting rhinos to Australia and hopefully having them breed isn’t Dearlove’s sole ambition. “It is our absolute goal that, once conditions permit, we will reintroduce the rhinos into the wild, anywhere in Africa, not necessarily South Africa. I believe passionately that rhinos must be available to the world in the wild, not only in captivity,” Dearlove wrote on The Australian Rhino Project’s site.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/australian-rhino-project-ray-dearlove-south-africa_us_5734fc9ae4b077d4d6f29ec9?utm_hp_ref=good-news

refugees...




BUT ...what a good idea.....

mind you rabbits and cats didnt work out very well did they.......

Is there anywhere in that land where they could live in the wild?

Well, camels do well, apparently.  Black rhinos have various habitats, but mainly areas with dense, woody vegetation. White rhinos live in savannas with water holes, mud wallows and shade trees.

Surely there's plenty of each habitat in Oz.

nicko wrote:
Is there anywhere in that land where they could live in the wild?  

ONLY 76% of Australia is either 'arid' or 'semi_arid', i.e. deserts...

THAT MEANS 24% isn't..

There are 'savannah' type grasslands in western Queensland, the Northern Territory, and some parts of central-western NSW.   Cape Buffalo (as seen in South Africa, and parts of India) are found living wild in parts of the NT, and on farms in Qld and NSW..   Goats and wild pigs can be found in feral colonies in many parts...

THERE are "dry schlerophyll" open but reasonably dense forests in NSW, Qld and the south-western corner of WA, that would probably be quite suitable habitats..
RHINO'S have been kept at the 'Western Plains Zoo' outside of Dubbo, NSW.

The benefactor behind that project wouldn't have had much trouble actually finding a suitable property to accommodate them --  there's likely always a couple on the market somewhere..        

Lord Foul wrote:refugees...




BUT ...what a good idea.....

mind you rabbits and cats didnt work out very well did they.......

Have you ever heard the phrase "they breed like rhinos?"

On that note:

Swap rhinos for boomers.

Ben_Reilly wrote:

Lord Foul wrote:refugees...




BUT ...what a good idea.....

mind you rabbits and cats didnt work out very well did they.......

Have you ever heard the phrase "they breed like rhinos?"

On that note:

anyone can make a mistake .....said the hedgehog climbing off the scrubbing brush

anyone can make a mistake......said the dalek climbing off the dustbin

nicko wrote:Is there anywhere in that land where they could live in the wild?  

heaps actually as Africa is quite arid as well, it is actually the most like Australia of any of the other continents

There is already a breeding program for white rhinos
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-21/baby-rhino/4702270


Plus this is a land with farms that are a million acres I am pretty sure this project has bought a suitable property.