Night after night, men paddle east across Lake Albert in makeshift canoes,
crossing the border from the Democratic Republic of the Congo into Uganda.
Their destination is Murcheson Falls National Park,
Uganda's largest protected area.
Their cargo is cheap wir snares and deadly, steel traps repurposed from old car parts.
These devices don't discriminate -
their purpose is to simply snag any animal that stumbles into them.
Thousands of similar traps are believed to have been hidden within Murchison
and Uganda's nine other national parks since the coronavirus lockdowns started
in March of 2020, totally flatlining the wildlife tourism industry.
This created an opportunity for poachers to move into the parks,
where the poaching incidents recorded from February to May 2020, more than doubled
compared to the same period in 2019.
In the nearby Nakasongola district, 33 rhinos graze peacefully
in the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, where they have lived in a secure environment
for more than 15 years.
Rhinos need a lot to survive because, everywhere in the world,
rhinos are highly threatened and now they need security.
But as of April 2021, their future hangs in the balance.
We have taken over. We are in full control.
We have closed the sanctuary,
A four-year land dispute between Rhino Fund Uganda, an NGO that manages the sancturary,
and the Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch, which owns the 16,000 acres of land,
came to a head on April 15 when the landowners hired brokers
to forcefully evict Rhino Fund Uganda from the sanctuary,
along with the 33 rhinos.
The sanctuary is home to the country's last remaining rhinos.
In 1983, they were actually declared extinct in the country
due to a number of factors, including prolonged human conflict,
mismanagement of their natural habitat, and poaching.
Between the 1960s and 1990s, conflict with neighboring Tanzania
and a six-year civil war fueled poaching
and kept visitors out of the national parks.
Elephant numbers dropped from an estimated 30,000 to 2,000
and giraffe numbers fell by 90%.
The lion population likely also declined.
In recent decades, though, Uganda's expansion of its wildlife tourism industry
has allowed it to finance anti-poaching efforts.
And in 1997, Rhino Fund Uganda was formed to reintroduce rhinos
to Uganda's national parks through a breeding and release program.
But now, with pandemic-related poaching on the rise
and the eviction of these 33 rhinos, that could be about to change.
What chance of survival do these potentially homeless mammals stand in the wild,
facing the threat of poaching and living on the brink of extinction?
So let's go back to the beginning of the story.
After Rhino Fund Uganda was founded in 1997, a land usage license was agreed on
between the NGO and Captain Joe Roy, a Ugandan citizen
and landowner of Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch.
The license gave RFU sole usage rights for a period of 30 years,
which could then be renewed.
The first six/seven white rhinos were introduced
to the 16,000 acres of suitable savannah and native woodlands from 2005 to 2006
that were three males and three females.
Over the past 15 years, 30 rhinos were born, whilst 3 died due to illnesses,
leaving the current total of 33.
But not a single one has been harmed or killed by poachers.
That's because security at the sanctuary is seen as a matter of utmost importance.
It's broken down into five distinct categories.
The first is physical security measures.
The sanctuary is enclosed by an electrified fence,
which is regularly patrolled by rangers on foot as well as on motorcycles.
These rangers also patrol the other sections of the sanctuary on a 24/7 basis.
An effective two-way radio system ensures good communication throughout
as well as outside of the sanctuary.
Ongoing training of all personnel is regarded as key
to maintaining a high level of competency
and also keeping on top of ever-changing threats and criminal activities.
For the work with rhinos we need experienced people.
Nobody else in Uganda has ever had experience with rhinos
like the Rhino Fund Uganda has done.
The rangers also monitor the rhinos closely 24 hours a day.
The work is carried out according to a carefully complied duty roster,
so as to prevent creating any kind of routine
By closely monitoring the rhinos and recording the data on their behalf,
Rhino Fund Uganda to be able to publish 3 scientific papers on the species.
A vital aspect of any security system is the formation and maintenance
of a well-placed informant network.
Experienced members of the NGO are in charge of this aspect
of the sanctuary security, which is proven to be very effective
over the past few years.
The final security measure is anti-poaching efforts.
Protecting the rhinos is RFU's primary aim
closely followed by the protection of all other wildlife
RFU works closely with the Uganda Wildlife Authority
and fulfills anti-poaching functions outside of the sanctuary as well.
This is for a number of reasons, with the most important being that the threat
of rhino poaching largely originates outside of the sanctuary.
Local poachers who know the area and its people intimately
are most likely to be contracted to poach rhinos.
By neutralizing the operations, RFU can minimize this threat.
Through this combination of experienced and high skilled staff,
plus collaborations with scientists and data montioring,
the rhinos have been able just to survive, but to thrive.
Rhino Fund Uganda regards the involvement of the surrounding communities
as vital to the success of its Rhino program
and has embarked on various uplift, education and socio economic programs
that involve and benefit the entire community directly.
It provides housing for its staff and their families,
creates access to clean drinking water,
and welcomes to school groups to the sanctuary
at no cost of learning about conservation.
In short, it does much more than just provide sanctuary to a threatened species,
it actively engages and provides support to its local community.
But then, in April of 2021, everything changed.
We have closed the sanctuary.
It's not accessible.
Let's quickly jump back to October 2017, when landowner Captain Joe Roy
gave the management of Rhino Funds Uganda
a letter terminating their land use agreement.
The agreement was signed in 2002 for a period of 30 years.
The original document had an end date of 2032.
So this letter of termination came 15 years too early.
The real reason for the sudden notice of eviction is unclear,
but there were rumors that Captain Roy wanted more money,
even up to 100% of the sanctuary's revenue.
Other reports have stated
that he wants to establish a sugar cane plantation on the land.
Whatever the reason, in 2020, it looked as though progress was being made
on the resulting disputes.
After a series of meetings with the president of Uganda
and the Ministry of Tourism, the two parties signed a fresh five-year contract
for the continued safety and breeding program of the rhinos
in the Wild Rhino Sanctuary.
But the agreement suffered a major setback in March of 2021,
when Captain Roy laid out fresh demands.
How much land is yours?
It's all mine. The one that is under dispute is all mine.
So mine is the one that's over 16,000 hectares.
And then on April 15, 2021, he walked out of a meeting
called by the Minister of Tourism and the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
They say they are no longer interested for any discussion.
Rhino Fund must leave the sanctuary immediately.
This prompted the Uganda Wildlife Authority to deploy security at the sancturary
to make sure that the safety of the rhinos wasn't compromised.
The departure of Rhino Fund Uganda from the sanctuary will have devastating effects
meaning the loss of jobs and many residents.
And it will undo all the work that Rhino Fund Uganda has achieved
over the past 15 years in this community.
The sanctuary has been subsidizing local schooling,
so the fate of these children is now unknown,
and only the 33 rhinos were left behind, alone.
In the case that no suitable solution can be found,
the rhinos will have to be relocated to Uganda's national parks.
However, the UWA has said that a sum of $13 million
would be needed to transfer the rhinos to new locations and maintain them.
It's $13 million that the Uganda Wildlife Authority doesn't have.
Relocating rhinos is very difficult.
Past cases have shown high rates of mortality,
and the move seems to be a huge issue for the UWA,
which may have affected the most recent development of the story.
The UWA announced that on 10 June,
the sanctuary would be reopening for tourists
and that they were officially taking joint ownership of the sancturaty
with Ziwa Rhino and Wildlife Ranch.
According to Rhino Funds Uganda, following the closure,
all staff were dismissed and replaced and the RFU has no involvement anymore
in the Ziwa Sanctuary.
This leaves the rhinos in quite a precarious situation,
exposing them to an increased level of safety risk.
It's still unclear on the grounds of which Rhino Fund Uganda were forced out
by the UWA, saying that they posed no threat.
If the first agreement with the landowner was valid until 2032,
and the second one at least until 2025.
Why have they now been forced to clear the sanctuary?
RFU is right to be asking these questions and many more still to be answered,
including: Can the UWA and Captain Roy continue to provide adequate security
and care for these 33 endangered rhinos?
Despite not having the correct training or support
that the RFU was supplying?
Nobody knows what will happen next,
but the success story of this unique conservation program
seems to have come to a sudden end.
Rhinos are highly endangered across the globe.
Scientists, conservationists and other entities put time, money, heart and soul
into a projects that aim to save them.
Can it really be that one man should be allowed
to spoil a successful conservation program without being held accountable?
And given the past actions, is the security and safety
of the rhinos that's still top priority?
Or are the 33 southern whire rhinos in Uganda now facing a future
that looks a lot like the return to the fate from the 1980s?
Hey, I'm Andy, and this is a third part of a series
about rhino conservation across the globe.
There are still many questions to be answered
and we will be be keeping an eye on them and following up.
But in the meantime, you can check out our other Rhino videos here
and subscribe because there is much more to come.