ミナミシロサイ３０頭、南アからルワンダへ移送　航空機で

【ルワンダＡＦＰ＝時事】絶滅の恐れがあるミナミシロサイ３０頭が２９日、南アフリカからルワンダにボーイング７４７型機のチャーター便で到着した。環境保護団体が発表した。１回に移送された数としては過去最多だという。（写真は資料写真）
　移送は、密猟により個体数が大幅に減少したシロサイの保護プログラムの一環。南アフリカのフィンダ私営保護区からルワンダ東部のアカゲラ国立公園に移された。移動時間は４０時間、移動距離は約３４００キロに上った。
　シロサイはかつてサハラ以南のアフリカ全域に多数生息していたが、欧州からの入植者による狩猟に加え、密猟の横行で絶滅寸前となっている。
　移送に関与した環境保護を目的とする慈善団体アフリカンパークスは、ヘンリー英王子が代表を務めている。
　アフリカンパークスのピーター・ファーンヘッド最高経営責任者（ＣＥＯ）は「シロサイのストレスを軽減するため、鎮静剤を使う必要があった」と話した。
　シロサイはアカゲラ国立公園到着後、それぞれサッカー場ほどの広さのある草原２か所に入れられた。当局によると今後、国立公園内の広い地域に放される予定。
　ミナミシロサイはシロサイの亜種で、体重２トンにまで成長する。世界自然保護基金（ＷＷＦ）によると生息数は２万頭余り。国際自然保護連合（ＩＵＣＮ）はミナミシロサイを準絶滅危惧種に指定している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/12/01-12:47）

Thirty endangered white rhinos arrived in Rwanda on Monday after a long journey from South Africa in a Boeing 747, conservationists said, hailing it as the largest single transfer of the species ever undertaken.
The majestic animals, which can weigh up to two tonnes, travelled some 3,400 kilometres (2,100 miles) from South Africa's Phinda Private Game Reserve as part of a programme to replenish the species' population, decimated by poaching since the 1970s.
Once plentiful across sub-Saharan Africa, white rhino suffered first from hunting by European settlers, and later a poaching epidemic which largely wiped them out.
The rhinos began their 40-hour journey to the new home in Akagera National Park in eastern Rwanda following months of preparation, said African Parks, a charity headed by Britain's Prince Harry which is involved in the exercise.
We had to tranquillize them to reduce their stress, which is itself risky, and monitor them, said African Parks' CEO Peter Fearnhead, calling the project a success.
The animals were transported in a chartered Boeing 747 and were placed in two grassy enclosures -- each the size of a football stadium -- after arriving in the park.
Later they will be allowed to roam the expansive park, authorities said.
This will provide an opportunity for them to grow in a safe environment from South Africa where three are killed per day by poachers, said the park's regional manager Jes Gruner.
Wildlife transfers are not without risks. In 2018, four out of six relocated black rhinos died a few months after arriving in Chad.
The southern white rhino, one of two subspecies of white rhino, is now considered endangered with about 20,000 individuals remaining, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
It is classified as near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
- Breeding programme -
The northern white rhino has all but vanished, with only two females left alive.
Scientists are attempting to save the species from extinction by harvesting eggs from the younger of the two animals, Fatu, and using sperm from two deceased males to create embryos in an unprecedented breeding programme, which is their last chance at survival.
Rwanda, which is positioning itself as a top Big Five safari destination, received five eastern black rhinos in 2019 from the Czech Republic and 17 from South Africa in 2017.
Not a single eastern black rhino has been poached at the Akagera park since their re-introduction in 2017, according to its regional manager Gruner.
Rhinos have few predators in the wild due to their size but have been devastated by poaching for their horns -- used in traditional Chinese medicine.
According to the IUCN, there are around 5,000 black rhinos left in the wild, compared to more than a million in the mid-19th century.