JOINT MEDIA RELEASE
Study finds dehorning of rhinos drastically reduces poaching
More rhino images and video clips available via the link below
An international study published today (5 June 2025) in the prestigious journal Science found that dehorning rhinos resulted in a drastic reduction in poaching of these endangered animals. This is based on the analysis of data across 11 reserves in the Greater Kruger region of South Africa between 2017 and 2023. Poaching for their horn is a major threat to the world’s five rhino species.
The project was a collaboration between reserve managers under the banner of the Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation (GKEPF) and scientists from the University of Cape Town (UCT), Nelson Mandela University, University of Stellenbosch and the University of Oxford. Other partners included South African National Parks, the World Wildlife Fund South Africa, and the Rhino Recovery Fund.
Lead author, Dr Tim Kuiper of Nelson Mandela University (George campus) said, “We documented the poaching of 1,985 rhinos (about 6,5% of the population annually) across 11 Greater Kruger reserves over seven years. This landscape is a critical global stronghold that conserves around 25% of all Africa’s rhinos.”
Dr Kuiper added, “Dehorning rhinos to reduce incentives for poaching (2,284 rhinos were dehorned across eight reserves) was found to achieve a 78% reduction in poaching using just 1.2% of the overall rhino protection budget”. This was based on comparison between sites with and without dehorning as well as changes in poaching before and after dehorning.
The study did show, however, that some poaching of dehorned rhinos for horn stumps and regrowth continued, while more recent evidence (2024-2025) since the conclusion of the study in 2023 suggests this is a growing challenge. Dehorning may also shift the focus of poachers to horned populations elsewhere.
Reserves under study invested $74 million (R1 billion) in anti-poaching interventions from 2017-2021. Most of the investment focused on reactive law enforcement — rangers, tracking dogs, helicopters, access controls and detection cameras — helping achieve over 700 poacher arrests. Yet the authors found no statistical evidence that these interventions significantly reduced poaching.
Interventions that work to aid poacher detection and arrest, while a necessary element of the anti-poaching toolkit, are compromised by systemic factors, such as local poverty (driving people to take risks) and corruption (offering a way around interventions, as this recent hard-hitting report highlights).“Finally, ineffective criminal justice systems mean that arrested offenders often escape punishment, with evidence from our study area of multiple repeat offenders”, said Dr Kuiper.
In a shining example of science-policy collaboration, this project was first conceived by reserve managers at the frontline of rhino conservation who recognised the need to critically evaluate their investments into anti-poaching interventions (from tracking dogs to AI cameras). GKEPF led the initiative by convening manager workshops and gathering data for the evaluation.
Sharon Hausmann, CEO of GKEPF, was the intermediary between the managers and scientists. She said, “The true value of this innovative study, conceived by GKEPF operational managers, lies in its collective critical thinking. Ensuring not only that operations are guided by science, but also that science is grounded in real experience from the frontline”.
Dr Markus Hofmeyr, of the Rhino Recovery Fund added, “From a donor perspective this study has given excellent insight where conservation donor funding can be spent and where to avoid funding.”
The research results present an opportunity for government, funders, the private sector and NGOs to re-reassess their strategic approaches to wildlife crime in general and rhino poaching in particular.
Study co-author Professor E.J. Milner-Gulland of the University of Oxford said: “This collaboration is a brilliant example of how the effectiveness of conservation interventions can be assessed quantitatively, even in challenging and complex situations, and how important the participation of on-the-ground practitioners is in initiating, and interpreting, such research.”
UCT Professor Res Altwegg, who supervised the statistical analysis, highlighted the importance of this publication: “It’s important to check that our conservation interventions work as intended, and keep working that way. For me, this project has again highlighted the value of collecting detailed data, both on the interventions that were applied and the outcome. It’s such data that makes robust quantitative analyses possible.”
Link to rhino photos and video for media
Black rhino 1-4 - General photos of black rhino in the Greater Kruger region. All dehorned and showing some horn regrowth. (Credit all photos: Tim Kuiper).
Dehorning operation - Greater Kruger region - white rhino being dehorned. Credit: Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation
Dehorned white rhino mother and calf - two photos - Greater Kruger region. Credit both photos: Tim Kuiper
Horned white rhino mother and calf - one photo - Undisclosed South African reserve (Credit all photos: Tim Kuiper).
Horned white rhino - three photos - Undisclosed South African reserve (Credit all photos: Tim Kuiper).
Video - horned white rhino - Greater Kruger reserve (Credit: Tim Kuiper).
Media inquiries:
For interviews with lead author Dr Tim Kuiper, please email timothyk@mandela.ac.za or call +2773 186 8356.
For the Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation, please contact Thomas Hancock (Board Chairperson) at tom@rockwood.co.za or call +27 (0)83 600 3210.
For interviews with the primary project funder and global rhino conservation expert, please contact Dr Markus Hofmeyr of the Rhino Recovery fund of WCN, markus@wildnet.org or call +2778 103 2803
For interviews with the scientists, please email Zandile.Ngwendu@mandela.ac.za or call + 27 (0)78 164 0449.
ABOUT THE GREATER KRUGER ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FOUNDATION
https://gkepf.org/
The Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation (GKEPF) is a registered non-profit organization that was established in 2016 by the private reserves on the Western boundary of Kruger National Park as well as the Kruger National Park. GKEPF was established in direct response to the alarming increase in the number of rhinos killed by poachers in the Greater Kruger, an area which encompasses more than 2.5 million hectares of unfenced wilderness and is home to the largest wild rhino population in the world.
GKEPF has become integrally involved in facilitating effective communication, aligning approaches and anti-poaching strategies, facilitation of co-ordination and co-operation amongst partners in the Greater Kruger open conservation system to address the relentless onslaught on rhinos, in addition to developing and supporting broader wildlife crime mitigation strategies with the objective of ensuring a safer region for people and wildlife. GKEPF supports its members with communication forums, collective data management, operational support, landscape interventions, the Greater Kruger rhino management group, training and research for the benefit of conservation in the region as well as a people centered approach involving the people living on the boundaries of the protected area to create a safe and thriving region for all.
ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN
https://www.uct.ac.za/
The University of Cape Town (UCT) is Africa’s leading university – ranked the continent’s top university in five major world rankings, and among the world’s top 200 universities. An inclusive, research-intensive university that strives to find solutions for Africa’s problems, UCT is anchored on pillars of excellence, transformation and sustainability. The university not only strives to produce groundbreaking research but to mold well-rounded global leaders who will make an impact not only in their communities but the world at large. UCT continues to produce sought after graduates, placing among the universities with the most employable graduates globally on several rankings.
ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
https://www.ox.ac.uk/
Oxford University has been placed number 1 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the ninth year running, and number 3 in the QS World Rankings 2024. At the heart of this success are the twin-pillars of our ground-breaking research and innovation and our distinctive educational offer.
Oxford is world-famous for research and teaching excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research alongside our personalised approach to teaching sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.
Through its research commercialisation arm, Oxford University Innovation, Oxford is the highest university patent filer in the UK and is ranked first in the UK for university spinouts, having created more than 300 new companies since 1988. Over a third of these companies have been created in the past five years. The university is a catalyst for prosperity in Oxfordshire and the United Kingdom, contributing £15.7 billion to the UK economy in 2018/19, and supports more than 28,000 full time jobs.
ABOUT NELSON MANDELA UNIVERSITY
https://www.mandela.ac.za/
Nelson Mandela University is situated in the coastal city of Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, with a campus in George. The largest university in the southern and eastern Cape; its existence is a result of a merger of the University of Port Elizabeth, Port Elizabeth Technikon and the Port Elizabeth campus of Vista University. It was initially named Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 2004, in line with the restructuring of the higher education sector. However, in 2017, it was renamed Nelson Mandela University, the only higher education institution in the world to carry the name of South Africa’s former president, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.
Its values are based on respect for diversity, excellence, Ubuntu, social justice and equality, integrity and sustainable stewardship. This comprehensive University offers degree, diploma and certificate courses. Spread over seven campuses; it is home to over 30 000 students. More than 500 study programmes are offered in seven faculties: Business and Economic Sciences; Education; Engineering, the Built Environment and Technology; Health Sciences; Humanities; Law and Science.
Nelson Mandela University is reputed for its excellence in, among others, art and design, building, chartered accounting, engineering, health and environmental sciences and information technology. Its state-of-the-art Ocean Sciences campus is one of its kind in the country. This campus’s range of marine and maritime education and training, research, innovation and engagement programmes is aimed at supporting the continent’s blue (ocean) economy.
The University is home to the country’s 10th Medical School, unique in South Africa as its comprehensive primary healthcare approach focuses on the four pillars of medicine: disease prevention, health promotion, treatment and rehabilitative medicine.
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