Why Rhinos?
Nobody knows what the future holds…
The problem
At the turn of the century, there were one million rhinos. Forty years ago there were 70,000. Today there are just 25,000 rhinos surviving in the wild. Since 2006 two subspecies of rhino have become extinct and the five remaining species struggling for survival across Africa and Asia could face a similar plight.
Of the remaining species there are only:
- 50 Javan rhinos
- 200 Sumatran rhinos
- 2,800 Greater one-horned rhinos
- 4,800 Black rhinos
- 20,100 White rhinos
The common problem is the growing demand for rhino horn from increasingly wealthy consumers in eastern Asia where rhino horn is illegally sold for high sums of money on the black market, most notably as a traditional Chinese medicine, with no scientifically proven effectiveness.
What are we hoping to do about it?
Our route will take us through many parts of the eastern world where rhino horn is still highly sought after and we hope to raise awareness of the impact that demand for this traditional medicine is causing as well as raise money to continue the valuable awareness raising and conservation work of charities such as Save the Rhino. You can help support us in doing this through making a donation to Save the Rhino through our Just Giving page.
Where will your money go?
Save the Rhino has been working since 1994 to conserve viable populations wild rhino across Africa and Asia. The money they raise is used to:
- Fund anti-poaching and monitoring patrols
- Veterinary work such as removal of snares, or implanting transmitters into horns
- Research into threats to rhino survival and medical alternatives to rhino horn
- Conservation and environmental education programmes that enable local communities to sustainably manage their surrounding natural resources and address human-wildlife conflict issues
Stop Ivory
We also hope to raise awareness of the critical work of Stop Ivory. Their mission is to “deliver an immediate and long lasting intervention to bring an end to the poaching crisis and illegal trade in ivory.
Most people won’t be aware, but illegal trade in ivory has escalated exponentially over the last number of years and we’re currently seeing the worst poaching crisis to face elephants in decades. In the 10 years from 1979-89, Africa lost half its elephants to illegal killing. An elephant is killed every 15 minutes. Many elephant populations are facing extinction and many African countries are seeing their last elephants disappear.
Stop Ivory are working with in collaboration with a large number of different states, NGOs, IGOs etc to develop agreements, and put in place financial and administrative mechanisms to protect elephants and stop the ivory trade. Visit http: www.stopivory.org to find out more.
