A $40,000 mechanical rhino was used in this episode to simulate the injury to the rhino.
At the end of the episode, aired in 1989, Richard Dean Anderson does a public service announcement saying that if the poaching isn't stopped, the black rhinos would be extinct by the year 2000. While the population numbers did indeed go down significantly in the following years, they started going back up before 2000 and by the year 2008 there were an estimated 4,240 though poaching has not stopped.
Cuba Gooding Jr. makes his 2nd appearance in "MacGyver" (so far), and again has to deal with the subject of racism. Although, in this episode, it is secondary behind the main issue.
When filming in British Columbia there are limits to the variety and type of natural locations. Mostly you have to use conifer forests (evergreens like pine, spruce and larch). Just for clarity, Sub-Saharan Africa has very few conifers, most of its trees are broadleaf.
As of 2022, the number of black rhinos has risen to between 5,366 and 5,627 individuals. Black rhinos remain on the critically endangered list, because of rising demand for their horns, from some Asian consumers, particularly in Vietnam and China, who use them in folk remedies.