Currently in the rhino group we are still trying to reach a larger community. We highly encourage people to spread our message to other parts of the world, especially in places were rhino poaching is a prominent feature of the locations tradition. We also encourage people to send us goofy/silly rhino pictures of themselves in order to help us save the rhinos even more proficiently. I am delighted to announce that we received a certificate from Project Rhino KZN. You can view the certificate bellow. Please watch our video at :
https://youtu.be/lt5kh5UzHZE

Current Activities in the Rhino Group

Currently the Rhino Group is engaged in an exciting new project that aims to inform people on the crisis which Rhinos are facing. Our most urgent campaign is informing more people about our campaign. You can help us in accomplishing our goal following our account on Instagram at SISRHINOGROUP. Also, you can subscribe to our account on YouTube at SIS Rhino Group. You can see our posters in Annexe B, C and in the Main Building! Check out our latest video on YouTube!
Links:
YouTube account:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwYWUZunUTFQZDfejmmxUxw
Instagram account:
https://www.instagram.com/sisrhinogroup/

Rhino Poaching Decreases in South Africa but Increases Overall Across the Continent!

For the first time since 2007 rhino poaching in 2015 had decreased from its usual figures. In 2014, 1,215 rhinos had been poached, but in 2015 this had declined to 1,175. Yes that is only a decline of 40 rhinos but, if the poaching declines in this same rate for the next few years this is a substantial step in stopping the poaching of rhinos.

However, as stated in the title of this post, throughout Africa rhino poaching is still increasing. It is estimated that at least 1,312 rhinos were illegally poached throughout Africa, and 137 of these were poached in Namibia and Zimbabwe alone. This amounts to a 200% increase since 2014.

Tom Milliken, who is a rhino expert from the wildlife-trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, stated, "The poaching epicenter has spread to neighboring Namibia and Zimbabwe, but is nowhere near being extinguished in South Africa." Hunters have now began expanding where they have been hunting which is why the numbers of rhinos poached in countries outside of South Africa has increased.

For more information on this subject the link to an article relating to this is below:
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/19544/20160127/rhino-poaching-declines-slightly-south-africa-increases-entire-continent.htm

Follow us on Instagram:
@SISRhinoGroup

The Last Sumatran Rhino in the Western Hemisphere is Leaving the U.S.

An article found recently on BuzzFeed talks about how one of the nine in total in captivity of the rare breed of sumatran rhinos, called Harapan is being moved from the U.S. to Indonesia to be a part of a new captive breeding program for endangered species. 

He is an 8 year old made rhino and his journey will take 50 hours, on sea, land and air, of a total of 1,000 miles. Not only is Harapan's journey long, but it is also unusual. This is due to the need for cooperation between governments (US and Indonesian), special training and multiple permits. Harapan is currently kept in the Cincinnati Zoo where he has been part of a Sumatran rhino breeding program where so far, three calves have been born. Even though this is a great achievement, the zoo is ending its breeding program which is why Harapan is being moved to the Way Kambas National park in Indonesia. He will be part of a new breeding program in Indonesia. 

If you would like to read more on Harapan's story the link to the article will be below and a link to another relating article as well. 

Links:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jasonwells/last-sumatran-rhino-of-western-hemisphere-leaving-the-us#.ce08aBdJa

http://cincinnatizoo.org/blog/2015/08/25/last-sumatran-rhino-in-western-hemisphere-is-leaving-the-cincinnati-zoo/

Rhino News!

"South Africa sees Poaching Intensify as 749 Rhinos killed!"

Summary:

Some asian nations, such as China and Vietnam see the rhino horn as valuable to them because they follow the belief that it can cure illnesses such as cancer. This has resulted in an increase of rhino poaching in 2014 where a record of 749 rhinos were killed and 544 of these poachings took place in the Kruger National park. In response to this, South Africa are working on conservation programs to raise awareness of the poaching to the Asian nations involved. In addition to this they are protecting their own rhinos which are being conserved, as they are the only nation to still have white rhinos in their area, and they also have a herd of 1,916 black rhinos. In order to maintain these numbers South Africa has taken the important step to educate and prevent further poaching.

If you would like to find out more information the article the information is based off will be linked at the end of this post. The article provides a good insight into, and addresses the issue of, rhino poaching in Southern Africa and states the reason for the problem. It is a brief and easy to read article which I strongly recommend for anyone who wishes to know some specific figures regarding rhino poaching. The article also states why it is important to support the rhinos in Southern Africa, especially South Africa.  

Rhino article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-30/south-africa-sees-rhino-poaching-intensify-as-749-animals-killed

Join us on Facebook

New Members!

Now that we have started a new school year we have sadly lost a few members of our save the rhinos group. However, it has also meant that we have gained some new members as well. The new members to our group are Lourdes, Michelle, Mariana, Jamin, William, Giovanni and Donald. 

This year we aim to raise awareness about the difficulties rhinos face through blog posts, marches, fundraisers, and even possibly sponsoring a rhino. As we stated in our blog's first post, we mainly spent last year raising awareness through our school about the rhinos. We achieved this through multiple bake sales where we sold rhino shaped cookies and gave out short informative messages about the rhinos. Also, we participated in the Global March for rhinos and elephants, which is coming up very soon in Stockholm. This year, we are going to contact other groups in Stockholm, similarly to last year, to march around Stockholm raising public awareness on the elephants and rhinos. Finally, one of our main goals this year is to try and contact other schools around the world. From this we wish to achieve a global understanding of the current problems with the rhinos and poaching, and to hopefully get other schools to campaign against this as we do.

The members of our Rhino Group this year are:

Katie:

I am involved in the SIS Rhino Group because I want to be able to educate other people on what we are doing to Rhinos and how we can stop this inhumane behavior. This Group has given me the opportunity to further my understanding on the mistreatment some people show towards Rhinos, and what a global issue this is. Without the Rhino the world would be at a loss.

Siska:

I am in the Rhino Group because of my love of animals. I think no animal should be killed for the use of humans. I want to help make sure that in my lifetime the Rhinos will not go extinct. Hope that with our little group we can make a little of a change to help the Rhinos survive.

Deepti:

I am involved in the SIS Rhino Group Because I want to inform the people about how the rhinos are treated. This group has helped me widen my knowledge about how rhinos are treated and how it is becoming a global issue. I hope this group together can make a change to save the Rhinos.

Imran:
I am involved in the SIS rhino group because I want to be involved in changing people's mind towards that slaughter of these animals. I am from Asia and I know that people there believe that rhino horn is something special and I want them to realise that these are animals and should not be killed for their horns.

Lourdes:

I joined the rhino group to take part in helping the issue of poaching. I want to show that the rhinos are animals that are important to ecosystems. I want to help the rhinos and expand the knowledge on the issue.

Michelle:

I joined the Rhino Group because I want to save the rhinos as well as spreading awareness about rhino poaching. It has became a very serious global issue and such inhumane action should be stopped. I hope with this group, we can raise awareness not only to the students in our school but also to the public to change the lives of the rhinos.

Mariana:

I joined the Rhino Group because I want to make a difference and help those without a voice. Rhino slaughter and poaching is unacceptable, and must be stopped now, and any help can make a difference. I hope that with this group I can help change people's opinion on hunting in general.  

William:

I joined the Rhino group as I am greatly interested in helping making people aware of the poaching that is going on in the world. I want to make people aware that Rhino's are more than just the ivory they have. 

Donald:

I joined the Rhino group because of my profound love of SADC. I thought since Rhino poaching is one of their major problems at the moment I would somehow help them by joining the group.

Jamin:

I joined the Rhino group because I care about the animals being poached in Africa. I want to make a difference and change our views on these animals, because there are people out there who don’t see them as animals but only see the horns and tusks they have.

Giovanni:

I am involved in the SIS rhino group as I strongly believe that the rhinos need our help. I wish to educate others on the problems of rhino poaching and how we can help prevent the poaching. I believe that by being part of the rhino group it is the first step into making a big change with rhino poaching.