Forty of the 2,000 southern white rhinos that were rescued from the world’s largest captive rhino breeding operation in South Africa last year have been rehomed in the wild.
The rhinos were relocated to the Munywana Conservancy, a 30,000-hectare (74,131-acre) reserve in the Zululand region of South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal province, the conservation charity African Parks said on Thursday.
They are the first batch of the rescued rhinos to be released in the wild, in a 10-year project to rewild the animals into secure protected areas across Africa.
The project is one of the largest continent-wide rewilding programmes undertaken for any species.
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African Parks bought the financially struggling 7,800-hectare (19,000-acre) rhino farm, known as Platinum Rhino, in South Africa’s North West province last September, after owner John Hume put it up for sale in April.
Rhinos, the second-largest land mammal, are considered to be under extreme pressure due to poaching.
There are thought to be 18,000 southern white rhino left. They are classified as a near-threatened subspecies.
