Rhinos are an emblematic fauna in natural and cultural landscape of South Africa. Hence, a recent rhino poaching crisis is not simply translated as a threat to the species but as a whole threat to South Africans. A current battle to save rhinos has been breaking the colonial racial dichotomy in wildlife conservation and transforming the sense of shared ownership of the animal as new South African-ness. The article discusses South African perception of different layers of antagonists in the international rhino trafficking chain vis-.-vis legitimate South African citizenship. In the physical and cognitive battles against public enemies, new social cohesion is imagined and the new South African-ness as rhino keepers has been created across traditional racial lines.