After being forced to dehorn its entire rhino population as a last-resort measure to combat poaching, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife continues to strengthen its anti-poaching efforts.

The organisation’s senior advisor for rhino protection, Cedric Coetzee, said several interventions have been introduced to protect rhinos from poachers.

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Among these measures was the dehorning programme, which cost taxpayers more than R16-million.

“That was only the beginning. We’ve since introduced several additional interventions, including the use of drones, the establishment of a K9 unit and the deployment of a helicopter equipped with night-vision capabilities,” said Coetzee, speaking to the media on Tuesday.

Coetzee added that some conservation areas have also been converted into ‘smart parks’, with technology-driven monitoring systems costing about R5-million per year to operate.

“It’s a costly operation, but we believe it is justified because we have achieved an almost 80% reduction in rhino poaching mortalities through dehorning and other measures,” he said.

“However, that doesn’t mean we can relax at any point. We must keep these operations running at full capacity at all times.”

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