Victoria Gill BBC News 21 Oct 10;
Five rhinos in South Africa's North West province have been fitted with a Global Positioning System (GPS) device to help protect them from poachers.
The GPS chip is fitted into the rhino's horn by drilling a small hole in the inert or dead part of the horn.
As well as GPS tracking, the device is equipped with alarm systems to alert game wardens of unusual movement or if a rhino is outside of the park.
The North West Park Board is testing the devices in Mafikeng Game Reserve.
The board began this novel project in April of this year, when they tested the chips.
Park vets carried out the first implants the system is now "up and running" - constantly monitoring the five animals.
"It's basically a satellite system which connects with the cell phone system and we can monitor the animals on whatever time delay we want," Rusty Hustler, head of security for North West Parks Board, told BBC News.
"There are a number of alarms that can be programmed: one for excessive movement, so if the rhino starts running, and another that goes off if the rhino sleeps for longer than six hours, which is abnormal."
An alarm also sounds if the chip goes outside of the area of the game reserve.
A reaction team in the park would be able to track and quickly reach the animal if an alarm went off.
More than 200 rhinos had been slaughtered in South Africa since the start of the year and there is a high demand for rhino horn, a prized ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine.
Mr Hustler said that the board was looking to use the devices in animals in other North West province parks and were planning to tag more animals in the coming weeks.
He added that in the future, the devices could even help to track rhino horns that were taken by poachers to help combat the illegal trade.
South Africa using GPS microchips to stop rhino poaching
Yahoo News 21 Oct 10;
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – South African rangers on Thursday announced a plan to implant GPS devices in the horns of rhinos in a new effort to combat rampant poaching.
The GPS chips link up to a computer monitoring station where park rangers track the rhinos.
"The animal's movements are then tracked 24/7 and if they are attacked, game rangers will be alerted via the alarms," park enforcement officer Rusty Hustler told the Sapa news agency.
The alarm signal activates if the rhino lies inert for longer than is deemed normal, or becomes unusually active.
Five rhinos in North West province have already been fitted with the device, but more will follow if the programme succeeds.
"If we prove it completely then my consideration will be that all the North West parks that have rhino should have the GPS device," he said.
Poachers stalk rhinos by helicopter and tranquilise them with darts from hunting rifles. The horns are removed while the giant animals lay unconscious.
Rhino poaching has spiked dramatically since 2008 with 227 slaughtered so far this year, almost double the number slain in 2009.
Black-market demand for rhino horn is particularly high in China and Vietnam, where poachers sell the horns for medicinal and ornamental purposes for up to 20,000 dollars per kilo.
