As rhino poaching syndicates continue to devastate South Africa’s wildlife, reserves such as Klaserie in Limpopo are using highly trained K9 units to track poachers
Anti-rhino poaching efforts in nature reserves are being scaled up as poachers and syndicates continue to target the animal for their horns.
One of them is the 60 000 hectare Klaserie Private Nature Reserve near Hoedspruit in Limpopo, which has no fences between it, the Kruger National Park and surrounding parks, allowing wild animals to roam in a larger area.
On a visit to Klaserie on a hot August, many of the animals took refuge under shaded trees or thickets.
Rhino poaching is rife in South Africa, and although there are ongoing efforts to capture and convict syndicates, more innovative methods are needed.
During the first three months of 2025, 103 rhinos were poached in South Africa, averaging 34.33 rhinos a month, according to statistics released by the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment in May.
South African National Parks, which manages 21 parks, recorded the highest number of losses, with 65 rhinos poached, compared with 88 in 2024. KwaZulu-Natal reported 16 cases, followed by Limpopo with 10, Free State with five, North West with four and Mpumalanga with three.
“While these figures reflect a persistent threat to our rhino populations, they also highlight the effectiveness of targeted interventions in certain regions. The absence of poaching incidents in four provinces is a testament to the dedication of our rangers, law enforcement agencies, and community partners who work tirelessly to protect our natural heritage,” the department said.
Environmental experts are more concerned with the failure to recognise how the syndicates operate — and what more needs to be done to stay ahead of the curve.
“In 2018, during the peak of rhino poaching, all the reserves were actually impacted, so everybody just upped their security and gates in terms of that,” said Marian Viljoen, of Klaserie’s K9 unit.
“Organised crime in South Africa is very imminent, but it went so far at the end we had to make the unfortunate decision to start with the dehorning. The thinking is we would rather have a live rhino without a horn than a dead one without a horn. We started with dehorning which is also part of trying to keep the species alive.”
Klaserie’s K9 anti-rhino poaching protection unit has successfully traced and tracked poachers as well as the illegal contents in their possession, which ranged from rhino horn and the bullets they use to kill the animal to ivory and pangolin scales.
“If there is an incident of poaching, they will do a crime area search where they will be sent in first because we don’t want to contaminate the area with prints,” Viljoen said.
“We send them in to see if they can find anything left behind by the poachers, like empty cartridges, which can be ballistically or forensically traced back to a weapon.
“Sometimes the poachers panic and they just throw the weapons into the bush and they are on the run, and sometimes they will hide the horns somewhere to come back and fetch it. The dogs will not only scan the area of the crime, they will go further, so they can see what they can pick up.”
On an overcast morning on one of the open fields in the reserve, three dogs: a German shepherd, a Dutch shepherd and a floppy-eared doberhound were ready to demonstrate their skills.
Twenty cylinders containing either a piece of a horn, elephant tusk, a firearm magazine, bullets or empty bullet cartridges were placed around the field. The dogs were let out individually to demonstrate how they use their strong sense of smell to find illegal items.
It took a second to sniff a cylinder before hurriedly moving on until they found the item. They either sat in front of the cylinder or put their paw on it to show their successful find — and were rewarded with their favourite toy before doing it again.
The observers volunteered to hide a piece of rhino material in the vicinity and the dogs were sent out to look for it. It was fascinating to watch them trace and walk towards the item with complete conviction before alerting their handler.
“Sometimes the handler will read the dog’s behaviour when they detect the item but can’t retrieve it, and the handler will have to check what they are looking for,” said Viljoen. “That’s why it’s important for the handler to be with the dog all the time.”
In a separate exercise, three volunteers hiked away into the bushes to hide — playing the role of poachers — while the dogs and their handlers sought to find them.
It is the responsibility of the handler to identify the tracks on the sand and determine which direction the people moved — which can be tricky in grass and weeds — and then bring the hound in that direction to then trace the scent. One handler confessed that he could not identify the tracks and let the canine take over with its sense of smell.
“Our scents are unique, so everything that you touch is like a pen leaking ink: every blade of grass or things like that. They go for that, and they can also follow a distinct track, so even if a hundred other people have walked over your track and they put a dog on your scent, it will follow your scent,” Viljoen said.
On a long leash, the dog moved in a linear direction — with leaps of excitement every so often — before circling and following the scent of the volunteer poachers. They were found on a hill about 200 metres away from the starting point in no less than 10 minutes.
Impressed by the hound’s success, the group applauded as a sole hyena appeared nearby, unfazed by our presence, while in the distance a cackle of more hyenas settled into their den.
It was all in a day’s work for the K9 unit joining the fight to save rhinos.
The journalist’s trip to Klaserie Private Nature Reserve, stay at Kitara Last Word and the K9 experience was sponsored by Last Word Intimate Hotels and Safari Camps.