Etihad Cargo and Intradco Global has helped to return 19 black Rhinos back in to the wild in Rwanda.

The critically endangered animals have been moved by the cargo company and the animal transport

business for African Parks.

African Parks is an organisation that works on a non-profit basis in order to manage a number of

national parks across Africa. The group also work in order to manage other protected areas on behalf of

the governments on the continent. Intradco, who specialises in animal transport chartered tow of

Etihad’s Freighter planes in order to transport the Black Rhinos to the Capital of Rwanda, Kigali, for

Johannesburg. After the flight, the animals were then placed on to trucks which carried them to where

they were released. While on the Boeing 777 planes and on the trucks during transportation, the Rhinos

were accompanied by three vets and two attendants. The rhinos were moved to Akagera National Park.

There were 10 Rhinos on the first flight to land at Kigali International Airport and nine in the second.

Each of these Rhinos can weigh up to 2,500 kg each and they were transported by using a number of

specially designed pallets that was also fitted with their food for the journey. The aircraft was also

heated to a temperature that was set by the Vet in order to make sure that the 19 animals were all

comfortable throughout their journey.

This transportation action took place at the beginning of May and will mean that the animals are

returning to a country they were wiped out from in 2007 because of widespread poaching. In an

extensive and intricate transportation programme Intradco and Etihad spent more than a year in

planning the transport in order to make sure that the Rhinos were moved safely from Johannesburg to

their destination in Rwanda. It has been calculated that there are only 1,000 Rhinos left around the

world, with 2% of the population being involved in the move back to Rwanda.