Rhino killings down over 50 per cent in South Africa, as zoo in Taiwan to send female white rhino to Japan for breeding
- A female rhino named Emma will be sent from Leofoo Safari Park in Taiwan to Tokyo’s Tobu Zoo for breeding to improve the genetic diversity of its herd
- In South Africa, a Covid-19 lockdown that halted travel has seen the number of rhinos killed by poachers fall by more than 50 per cent compared to last year
A zoo in Taiwan has agreed to give a Japanese zoo one of its female white rhinos, which will make the journey to Saitama prefecture, near Tokyo, next year.
The agreement was signed at a Taipei hotel and coincided with World Rhino Day, which was also greeted by news that the anti-Covid-19 lockdown in South Africa appears to have contributed to a dramatic drop in rhino killings in that country.
However, experts there warn that the drop in killings may be only temporary and that, as the country opens up and international flights resume, there could be a resurgence in poaching. Rhinos are killed for their horns, which are sought after for use in traditional Chinese medicine.
Mitsuaki Hoshino, the chief deputy representative of Japan’s de facto embassy in Taiwan, the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, revealed in his opening remarks at the signing ceremony that the four-year-old female rhino, named Emma, was expected to travel to Tobu Zoo and Amusement Park in March next year.
Her partner-to-be is a two-year-old white rhino at the zoo named Moran. Lulu Chuang, chairwoman of Leofoo Tourism Group, said Emma would be sent off to Tobu Zoo to help improve the genetic diversity of the endangered white rhino.