Private rhino conservation: Diverse strategies adopted in response to the poaching crisis

Private landowners in South Africa conserve roughly 40% of white rhinos globally. Given concerns that escalating poaching has caused private-rhino owners to disinvest, we used a national survey to assess 171 private-rhino owners' responses to the crisis. Twenty-eight percent of rhino owners are disinvesting in rhino, 57% are pursuing business-as-usual (largely ecotourism), and 15% are investing in more rhinos. It is currently unclear whether this diversity in private-rhino owners' responses to the crisis is increasing the resilience of the rhino population to poaching. Some rhino investors show signs of financial stress. Most owners support rhino-horn trade to fund conservation, yet international trade remains banned. By contrast, a recent national policy amendment allows rhinos to be managed as livestock, risking a shift from rhino-for-conservation to rhino-for-production on private land. Our findings highlight an urgent need to ensure policies keep pace with dynamic socioeconomic environments that influence the sustainability of wildlife use.