The
animals
flown
into
the
Matusadona
National
Park
over
the
past
week
were
descendants
of
black
rhino
removed
in
the
1990s
as
poachers
slashed
their
numbers,
the
park
manager
said.
“It’s
their
descendants
that
we’re
bringing
back
into
the
system,”
Michael
Pelham
said,
adding
the
project
was
believed
to
be
the
first
of
its
kind
on
the
continent.
“We
are
rewilding
with
our
own
genetics
coming
back,”
he
said.
Over
one
year
in
the
early
1990s,
poachers
after
rhino
horn
dropped
Matusadona’s
rhino
population
from
an
estimated
250
animals
to
just
16,
he
said.
A
nine-year
poaching
spree
across
Matusadona
and
other
parts
of
the
northern
Zambezi
Valley
cut
the
area’s
black
rhino
from
3,500
to
just
400
animals,
he
said.
“In
this
situation,
it
was
feared
we
would
possibly
lose
all
of
the
genetic
stock,
so
surviving
animals
were
moved,”
Mr
Pelham
said.
Most
went
to
other
parts
of
Zimbabwe
but
about
25
were
shipped
to
Australia
and
Texas.
“Some
of
the
animals
that
we
took
out
of
Matusadona
in
the
early
1990s
are
still
alive,
but
too
old
to
bring
back
here
and
move
again,”
Mr
Pelham
said.
“But
their
offspring
are
coming
back
into
the
park.”
The
new
arrivals
were
dehorned
and
new
technology
such
as
drones
and
trackers
was
in
place
to
safeguard
them
against
poaching,
he
said.
Another
20
were
due
to
arrive
next
year.
The
world’s
black
rhino
population
dropped
from
approximately
65,000
animals
in
1970
to
only
2,300
in
the
wild
in
the
early
1990s,
according
to
the
International
Rhino
Foundation.
The
numbers
had
recovered
to
about
6,800
after
intense
anti-poaching
efforts,
it
said.
Source:
Rhinos
back
in
Zimbabwe
park
30
years
after
evacuation