During the 1980s and 1990s the country of Zimbabwe had a thriving population of black rhinos and they were managed well by the government and by private ranchers. Unfortunately, poaching came to their country and the conservation of many species was threatened—including black rhinos.

Captive rhino managers in the United States and Australia combined resources and approached the government of Zimbabwe with the idea of bringing ten rhinos to the United States and ten rhinos to Australia as an assurance population against the extinction of the species in Zimbabwe. Fossil Rim was an instrumental player in the formation of the International Black Rhino Foundation (now called the International Rhino Foundation—and focusing on all rhino species), which had the mission of capturing, transporting and managing southern black rhinos ex situ (outside of their normal range, usually meaning captive management). There were several months of negotiations—field experts thought they had about 2500…