A five year-old male black rhino has been reintroduced into the Karoo National Park.A five year-old male black rhino has been reintroduced into the Karoo National Park. The rhino came from a privately owned reserve in a landmark agreement that sees national conservation authorities working together with the private sector to help an endangered species.
The move is part of a black rhino meta-population project that shuffles animals around the country between reserves in order to maintain a healthy flow of genes through the entire black rhino population despite significant distances between sub-populations.Black rhino were reintroduced into the park in 1993, but were moved to Addo Elephant National Park two years later to boost breeding efforts there. Karoo National Park then acted as an incubator for the eastern black rhino, breeding this sub-species for reintroduction in other African countries. The last of these rhinos left the park last March.The national park is hoping to reintroduce more black rhino in future. Male black rhino have become a bit of a problem area for some black rhino breeders, as there are many surplus animals and a very low demand for single males.