A major conservation organization has announced the results of its yearly survey, reporting an increase in the southern white rhino population for the first time since 2012.
The number of white rhinos has increased by 5.6% from last year to roughly 16,803, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) reported on Thursday.
“Notably, this is the first increase in white rhino numbers since 2012,” the report noted.
The number of black rhinos also rose, reaching roughly 6,500 by the year’s conclusion.
Nonetheless, Michael Knight, chair of the IUCN African Rhino Specialist Group, stated that conservation efforts were still required because poaching rates remained high despite the increase in Africa’s rhino population.
561 rhinos were poached in Africa in 2022, with 448 of those deaths occurring in South Africa.
The number of rhinos poached in Namibia nearly doubled between 2021 and 2022, from 47 to 93.
From six in 2021, only one rhino was lost to poaching in Kenya this year.
After purchasing the largest private captive rhino breeding business in South Africa earlier this month, conservation group African Parks announced plans to release 2,000 southern white rhinos into the wild.
The last two female northern white rhinos can be found in Kenya, making that country home to the last of their kind. Poaching for rhino horn is often blamed for the species’ near extinction.