JOHANNESBURG — South African National Parks says it has completed the first phase of moving rhinos in the Kruger National Park to safe areas after deaths from poaching surged to a record.

SANParks, as the state parks organization is known, said it moved 29 rhinos to safer areas within the park and to other nature reserves during October and November. Seventeen have been fitted with tracking devices.

Additional Images

Rangers with their tracking dog re-enact how they work, in conjunction with a helicopter, to track down rhino poachers in the Kruger National Park near Skukuza, South Africa. The Associated Press

Rangers near Skukuza, South Africa, prepare a darted rhino for transport to an area safer from poachers. Rangers in Kruger National Park have conducted 29 such captures. The Associated Press

“It is early days but our initial reports are that the rhino translocated within the Kruger are safe and have settled well,” Kuseni Dlamini, chairman of the SANParks board, said in an e-mailed statement Thursday. “As one element among others in our multi-faceted strategy to combat rhino poaching, we are greatly encouraged by the initial outcomes.”

South Africa, home to most of the world’s rhinos, is struggling to protect the animals from poachers. So far this year, at least 1,020 rhinos have been killed in the country, most in the Kruger, a reserve the size of Israel, compared with a record 1,004 in all of last year.

The Kruger borders Mozambique, where many of the poachers come from, and some rhinos are being moved from border areas to safer zones within the park.

SANParks also plans to sell rhinos to private landowners who meet security and habitat requirements. A total of 22 bids have been received.

The sale is part of an overall strategy “to provide a basis for securing the protection and growth of the rhino meta- population in southern Africa,” according to SANParks.

A company associated with billionaire Christoffel Wiese is among those that were refunded $1.3 million in deposits after an earlier contract to buy rhinos from SANParks was deemed unauthorized and canceled.

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