SANParks.org Forums

Hi Megan,

It seems that a whole paragraph is missing from my post you commented on. I commented on another park that I visited that had 5 rhino's die in a matter of weeks, when we queried it at a "friends of "X" meeting we where given an outright lie by the staff who told us that no rhino's had died. a few months later 50/50 covered the story and the truth came out. Apparently the elies had killed the rhino's. A few Kruger bulls where introduced and the problems stopped. You might recall this..

The point i was making is that at times people give out false info to keep things quiet. they may have a very good reasons for doing this, the point I was making is that it does happen.. this is understandable as animal rights groups can sometimes be a pain in the @$$ and make things more difficult than they were to start off with. (animal rights groups also play a good role in society, but they have their place, so i am not mocking them either)

Megan the missing paragraph (removed by a mod because it contained the name of the park) makes this article look very ugly towards SANparks, that was not my intention, i actually never knew the whole paragraph was removed, i thought the moderator removed only the name of the park.. because its not a sanparks.. After being lied to by the staff members of that park, i never returned to that park, in fact i had attended the meeting to become a member of their friends of the park club, because I love wildlife and wanted to help. Needless to say i never did.

Anyway I apologize for getting the feathers all turned up so early on a Monday morning, not my intention.

I was just emphasizing the point that at times people give misleading info to stop stories from spreading, as in the case of X park. Peter is a forum member and usually gives great info and pics, when I saw he was advised

I thought it good to provide the example above to show that sometimes things are not hearsay and that it would be wrong to keep your mouth when clearly someone provided misleading info.

I know you always provide good info and thanx for clearing things up re the Rhino issue.. I know you did not provide any misleading info and know you will not do so ever. (the reason whjy u have not told us what did happen to that bagged rhino means it must be confidential and everyone can understand that)

I can also not say that your rangers provided info that was false, so i apologize for implying this.

However neither one of us was actually on location when the whole hearsay event unfolded, the forum member who was there and actually did have said conversation is told not to post hearsay? This doesn't seem like a friendly way to treat forum members, people who offer valuable info that they personally heard and seen?

Megan you do a great job here in the forum and for that I commend you please keep it up, its great reading your posts.

I also feel Peter provides great feedback and just don't want him to stop giving feedback because some feel he provided hearsay. Hope you understand where I am coming from.

ps. a note to mods - if in future you edit my posts pls let me know exactly what phrase was removed, then i know before the time and can edit before i get my fingers burned.. Don't wanna be in Megan's bad books

Hi Simon - you were informed by PM about the edit

Yes you did i just didnt know you took out the whole paragraph and never checked. oops my fault again.. Next time I will know that means took out your paragraph..

oops sorry my bad..

Well I will be more specific in the future too when I PM members with regard to edits

Thank you Addo for the 3 new Blackies for Karoo NP - hopefully this will increase our chances of seeing at least one on our next visit to Karoo (and MZNP) which we are planning for early-ish next year.

( though never got to see one at Addo either )

BTW - do they all have names? Thandi and ? ?.

Addo’s Black Rhino find new home in the Karoo

Super news!!!

Thanks Munchkin!

Thanks Munchkin!

I recall a couple of months ago that I got into immense trouble for mentioning that A Rhino I saw being captured at Addo was destined for Karoo National Park. I was reported to HQ and all. Now they have 3 it seems from the above post so to me it seems I wasnt wrong at all and the capture team wasnt giving me heresay etc etc. Hopefully whoever reported me will see what I received is officially reversed??

Hi Peter,

Are you sure this was the same capture you saw

The article says this:


When did you see the capture you mentioned?

Peter, the fact remains that you answered a question on the numbers of rhino in Karoo NP using incorrect facts. The capture you saw months ago did not result in rhino being moved to Karoo National Park and does not have anything to do with the three rhino that were moved there on Monday. Therefore the comments made to you remain valid.

I will be trying my luck again to find the rhinos in Karoo when I visit from 24 December to 4 January. During the previous visit they eluded me on all 9 days. Hopefully 11 full days will be lonf enough to find them this time.

Thandi, Mia and Sukulu. Black rhino are given names to aid us in identifying them in the field for research and monitoring purposes. The names are linked to the ear notches in their ears and sometimes notches on their feet too (for tracking by spoor on the ground). Its easier to remember names than to remember numbers or codes.

I recall that the "original" black rhinos in Addo were removed because it was the wrong sub-species introduced in the park. Thus I take it that the 3 rhino being moved to Karoo now is of the same sub-species as the ones presently in Karoo? I wonder if it is also the same sub-species as the ones in MZNP? It will be interesting to know which parks host which sub-species.

Yes, Stoffel, Addo was originally stocked with michaeli subspecies - the East African subspecies - because these were the only black rhino available at a time when the numbers of the species were critically low (early 1960s).

In later years it was decided to translocate all the michaelis out of Addo and stock the Park with the bicornis subspecies which would naturally have occurred here. This is the same subspecies that occurs in Namibia, Mountain Zebra NP, Karoo NP and Mokala NP. SANParks manages the bicornis populations in these national parks as a whole, transferring rhinos between them and bringing in rhinos from Namibia to ensure that the genetic variation in the populations remain healthy and therefore resistant to extinction.

The other subspecies which occurs in SA is the minor subspecies which is found in Kruger NP, KwaZulu Natal and up north. There was a fourth subspecies of black rhino, the longipes subspecies which occurred in central Africa but as far as I know, this subspecies is no longer around.

Thanks for this info Megan.