It was a pivotal moment in Wicus’s life when the first rhino was poached on his farm. Rockwood Conservation was born and his focus shifted to conservation.
As a privately owned conservation, dedicated to saving the rhino and protecting wildlife, our focus is on the safekeeping and general upkeep of our animals.
Rhinos have no natural predators and sit at the top of the food chain. Yet, poaching is driving an entire species to extinction over a regrowable body part.
Thankfully, a permitting and monitoring system is in place – stipulating that only older, post-reproductive or 'problem' bulls are permitted to be hunted.
Most of our rhinos were poached in the Kruger National Park. If this trend continues, the entire rhino population protected by Kruger might be wiped out by 2030.
Rhinos are plains grazing herbivores who rely on a variety of plants for nourishment. Here's a closer look at each of the five remaining rhino species’ diets.
There is no actual colour difference between the black and the white rhino species. They vary based on physical (and temperamental) characteristics.
Africa’s giraffe populations are quietly diminishing. Known as the “silent extinction”, 40% of our giraffes have vanished from the wild since the 1980s.
The world’s last male northern white rhino died on 20 March 2018. His female and daughter are still alive, but no further natural breeding is now possible.
With their massive bodies, thick, folded skins, and facial horns, the rhinoceros (roughly "Nose Horn" in Greek) has fascinated humans from the earliest times.
After COVID-19, many of China's wet markets (where animals are sold as food or pets) were shut down, but wildlife markets continued selling wild animals.
Some general info on these gentle giants that once so freely roamed our plains, but whose numbers are now drastically declining due to lack of conservation.
You can join the fight to save the African rhino. Know what it takes to care for rhinos, so you know that your donation goes directly towards conservation.
We're always looking for new ways to initiate rhino conservation. The key ingredient in Megamaster's eco-friendly Rhino Balls fire lighters, is our own rhinos' dung.
Africa’s black rhino population has more than doubled since the 1990s. Could we finally be seeing a payoff to decades of committed rhino conservation?
We can choose to be seeds – small yet significant and full of potential. Or we can be parasites – self-serving, destructive, harming the very host keeping us alive.
The effects of Covid-19 reached far and wide, and were felt in rhino conservation too. We're proudly sharing our nine conservation success stories for 2020.
South Africa recently released rhino poaching statistics. The fifth consecutive year reflecting a downward trend indicates very good news for rhino conservation.
With the last male northern white rhino dying in 2018 and only two females left in the world, science has taken massive steps for the subspecies’ survival.