A TECHNIQUE used by park rangers to protect rhinos is ineffective and could
even be reducing the animals’ fertility, say researchers who have studied rhinos
in Zimbabwe.
Rangers put radio collars on rhinos so they can monitor their movements and
reach them quickly if poachers attack. To fit a collar, the rangers must
immobilise the animal by shooting it with a tranquilliser dart. But
husband-and-wife research team Zoe Jewell and Sky Alibhai of the conservation
group Rhinowatch say this harms the animals.
Rhinos that are immobilised and then fitted with radio collars take much
longer to conceive compared with rhinos…
