By the time you’ve read this, another rhino will have been killed for its horn.
A FEW months ago, the very last Javan rhino in Vietnam was killed – shot through his leg and butchered alive by poachers for his horn. Two thousand kilometres away in Indonesia, only 40 to 60 rhino remain and they are the last known living members of the Javan species, with none in captivity. Fast forward a few years into the future and experts predict the species will be extinct in Asia and the Javan rhino will join the tragic list of precious wildlife wiped out by man’s greed.
With rhino populations dwindling across the world, poachers have turned their attention to our country, which is home to almost 90 percent of the world’s estimated 22 800 rhinos. Since 2008, rhino poaching in South Africa has escalated along with the rising demand for horns in Asia, particularly Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. Many Asians believe that eating crushed rhino horn can cure or prevent an array of ailments, including cancer. A single horn can fetch up to R1-million, making it even more expensive than gold and platinum. Last year, at least 448 animals lost their lives to poachers. This year, the numbers are set to be even more staggering.
Call them cartels, syndicates or triads, the organisations behind rhino poaching are structured like well-oiled businesses, operating on a regional, national, and transnational scale. “These ‘establishments’ incorporate extremely sophisticated methods and ‘credible’ front-organisations, as can clearly be seen by the alleged involvement of well-known members of the wildlife industry in some poaching cases,” says Elise Daffue, founder of StopRhinoPoaching.com, a platform that addresses rhino poaching on a number of levels.
“Poachers usually have ex-military backgrounds. Many criminals involved in high risk criminal activities, like ATM bombings, are now becoming involved in ‘lower risk/higher reward’ rhino-related crime. Poaching groups are highly mobile and some operate across a number of provinces with gangs consisting of four to six individuals. They infiltrate the local community and ask for information on the whereabouts of rhino in an area. They stake out rhino farms (ensuring at least two escape routes), familiarise themselves with security structures and the movement of personnel, and then make their kills.”
Rhinos are usually shot but there have also been incidents where rhinos have been darted with immobilising drugs. Searl Derman, CEO of Aquila Game Reserve in the Western Cape, has experienced this first hand. A group of poachers, armed with dart guns, chain saws, and the skills required to operate within the 7 500-hectare reserve, gained access into Aquila. After butchering a male rhino and leaving him to bleed to death in a gully, they darted two others. Absa – a 1.8-ton rhino and the first to be reintroduced to the Western Cape since the species was hunted out 250 years ago – was found still alive but barely breathing.
His front horn had been sawn away and his smaller back horn half hacked off. It’s believed the poachers were disturbed and fled as the other rhino was found heavily tranquilised, but with her horns intact. Staff managed to administer the antidote and she was able to make a full recovery. Absa died of his injuries a few days later.
Derman launched the Saving Private Rhino initiative shortly after his reserve was targeted. “I believe one of the largest gaps in SA’s arsenal against rhino poaching is a lack of training of enforcement officials – both on and off the ground. Although rhino poaching has been declared a crime of national priority, this priority status is not reflected in the situation on the ground. Most private reserves lack the necessary personnel, as well as equipment including vehicles, firearms and ammunition, and sniffer dogs. The shortage of trained field rangers and anti-poaching personnel is a cause for serious concern.”
This is where the Saving Private Rhino Initiative comes in. The initiative provides a comprehensive integrated anti-poaching solution free to every private game reserve in Africa that cannot afford to defend its wildlife and runs workshops for reserve staff. It also heads an intensive real-time communications campaign (via Twitter and Facebook) aimed at raising awareness around rhino poaching, and encourages the public to rally for stiffer sentences for poachers.
According to the Department of Environmental Affairs, in the 2010-11 financial year, environmental law enforcement officers opened 738 criminal dockets, handed 234 cases to the National Prosecutions Authority, made 1 988 arrests (securing 72), negotiated 19 plea bargains and received R867 010 in admission of guilt fines.
Last year, the Kruger National Park (KNP) lost 252 rhino. The majority of poachers arrested in the Park were of Mozambican origin. On January 31, 2012, three Mozambiquan men were found guilty of illegal rhino hunting that occurred in Mooiplaas in the Kruger National Park two years ago. They were sentenced to a maximum of 25 years imprisonment each. A fourth suspected poacher died in custody last year after attempting to escape.
“They were found with two freshly chopped rhino horns, an assault rifle, a hunting rifle and an axe and admitted to camping in the Kruger National Park prior to poaching the rhinos,” says Dr David Mabunda, CEO of SANParks. “The poachers were found guilty on four counts: illegal hunting of rhino (10 years imprisonment with an option of a R100 000 fine), possession of a prohibited firearm (15 years imprisonment), possession of a firearm (eight years imprisonment), and possession of ammunition (15 years imprisonment). The sentencing of these poachers is an indication that as a country, we are taking more stringent measures in the fight against rhino poaching and sentences are harsher than they have been in the past.“
Dr Mabunda was one of several who attended an urgent meeting in Pretoria earlier this month to find viable solutions to reduce the incursions through the Mozambique border. The Minister of Tourism in Mozambique, Minister Fernando Sumbana Jnr, and the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs in South Africa, Minister Edna Molewa, were also present. In the meeting, it was proposed that 150 field rangers should be added to increase the amount of law enforcement officers in the KNP to 650, that the South African government be requested to increase military presence in the KNP, and the possibility of strengthening the border fence between Massingir and Komatipoort was discussed.
The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), a conservation organisation dedicated to conserving threatened species and ecosystems, maintains that proactive security and strengthened law enforcement remains the best defence against rhino poaching. “Law enforcement officers and border control officials generally lack the equipment and training to detect rhino horns and other wildlife contraband and rhino populations are under-protected on the ground,” says Yolan Friedmann, CEO of the EWT.
“There is an insufficient number of sniffer dogs trained to detect rhino horn and other wildlife contraband, not only at the ports of entry and exit, but also other key points, such as the gates of the Kruger National Park and container depots. Investigations done by the EWT at OR Tambo International Airport found that the comparative number of dogs, which are able to detect rhino horn, was far fewer that those trained to detect narcotics. To our knowledge, there is no rhino horn detection dog stationed at any of the land border posts between South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The deployment of additional dogs to detect rhino horn, particularly at points of exit which are known to be high risk, which would act as a deterrent to potential rhino poachers, should be considered as a matter of urgency. The EWT is in fact actively working to address this.”
Aquila, SanParks, the EWT and StopRhinoPoaching.com all agree that a multipronged approach, with a variety of interventions at each stage of the poaching chain, and complete collaboration and co-operation from all parties is needed.
“Rhino Poaching is an extremely emotional topic, as can be seen by the huge groundswell of (often negative and uninformed) content available on the Internet,” says Daffue. “In between the politics, criticism, heated debate and opposing ideas, everyone ultimately shares the same objective – the survival of the rhino and an end to poaching.”
How Can I Help?
• Look out for suspicious vehicles patrolling in wildlife areas, defence lines that have been cut and talk of strangers in town asking about rhino in an area. Poachers are known to use women to approach farm workers, so ask them to be alert.
• Report any low flying aircraft over game farms or reserve areas. By law, no helicopter or aeroplane is permitted to fly below 457 metres over a designated game reserve area without the permission of the land owner.
• While rhino poaching may not be the best dinner conversation, the more people know about what is happening to our rhinos, the more support there will be.
• Have a zero tolerance approach. Make your feelings known by attending hearings of alleged poachers, signing petitions and supporting the various credible organisations that are dedicated to fighting rhino poaching.
• Suspicious behaviour of any kind that may be linked to rhino poaching can be reported to the Hawks Rhino hotline at 071 348 8630.
Did You Know?
• Last year, 26 suspected poachers died in shootouts with anti-poaching units.
• An alleged poacher was caught close to Komatipoort border post with the corpse of his friend, another alleged poacher, who was shot and killed in Mpumalanga.
• 2010 saw 333 rhino poached (323 white, 10 black Rhino) – 82 were from private farms (81white rhino and one black rhino).
• Rhino horns are composed largely of the protein keratin, also the chief component in hair, fingernails and animal hooves.
• Black rhino numbers were reduced from an estimated 70 000 in the late ‘60s to only 2 410 in 1995.
• If poaching continues at its current rate, South Africa’s rhino herd will go into population decline by the middle of this year.
