On the black markets of Southeast Asia, rhino horn is worth more per kilogram than gold, cocaine, platinum or heroin. It is a product people are prepared to kill and die for. There are no proven medicinal benefits as it’s made from keratin, the same protein in fingernails. It is prescribed for nosebleeds, stroke and fever. It’s value is artificial, founded on myth and propagated on greed. We have been hunting rhinos and threatening their survival for over four centuries. The 19th century concept of hunting as a sport, however, has almost completely eradicated the species from the planet. At the beginning of the 20th century there were 500,000 rhinos across Africa and Asia. This fell to 70,000 by 1970 and further to just 29,000 in the wild today. Despite this bleak picture, and the continuing threat of poaching for their valuable horns, overall global rhino population figures have been increasing in recent years. There are five living rhino species, the rarest of which is the Javan rhino, with only 58-61 individuals tucked away in the westernmost tip of Java, Indonesia. There are no more than 100 Sumatran rhinos, along with around 3,500 of the india-based Greater one-horned rhino makes all three asian species listed as critically endangered. The large-scale poaching of the now critically endangered black rhino resulted in a dramatic 96% decline from 65,000 in 1970 to 2,300 in 1993. Now there are around 5,100, thanks to persistent conservation efforts. Arguably, the greatest conservation success story of any large mammal is of the white rhino. There are two white rhino subspecies, the northern and the southern white rhino. The northern is not faring so well, with now only 3 living members, all in captivity in Kenya under 24-hour surveillance of armed guards. The southern white rhino, however, is faring much better. As few as 50 were documented in the early 1900’s, whereas now there are as many as 21,077 and has become the most populous of all the rhino species. The white rhino is categorised as near threatened and 98.5% of the population are found in 5 southern african countries including, of course, South Africa. I was recently in South Africa and took the opportunity to spend four days driving around the incredible Kruger National Park. Set with camera, friends and an ID book, we spent each day from dawn until dusk meandering the dusty trails training on the lookout for anything we could spot. The last time I was in Kruger I was 14. It was the furthest I’d travelled from home, and where I discovered my passion for wildlife conservation. It was incredible to be back on the same safari tracks where it all began. 12 years on, however, I looked at Kruger from a very different, critical standpoint. All the animals in the park are incredible, but something stands out about the rhino for me. It’s massive, intimidating armoured stature juxtaposed against it’s calm, herbivorous and social nature really appeals to me. Although unfortunately, it is exactly these qualities that make them easy pickings for poachers. So where are all the Rhinos POACHING The horns of 3 rhinos, a shotgun, 17 rounds of ammunition, 4 knives and an axe were confiscated from the vehicles of 12 men, poaching in Kruger National Park on the 16th January 2017. Three men were also arrested for trespassing Kruger along with the illegal possession of firearms just the week before. The previous Friday, police had discovered 6 Rhino horns at a property just outside of the park. Poachers have been known to use geotagged photos posted by tourists on Facebook safari pages to locate the animals. It is increasingly common to find discarded ammunition in the dirt by the road, and as you can see, poaching is a very real, very intense issue that is happening even under strict armed surveillance. On the 20th February 2017 a rhino orphanage was rampaged by poachers. A small team at Thula Thula Rhino Orphanage where present when 5 men breached the gates, killed two infant rhinos, stole their horns and assaulted the staff. This is the most recent example of how out of control the poaching situation is. Although it serves as a deterrent, arresting, punishing and even killing poachers achieves nothing in the long term. 363 poachers were killed by South African security forces between 2008-2014. This approach will never abolish the international trade of threatened animal products. Criminal poaching activities will persist so long as there is such a large financial incentive, there will always be people prepared to take the risk to make a buck. The only way to stop poaching is to cull the market. You have to get the information to the public. Poaching is a colossal industry, corrupted and fueled by international poaching syndicates pulling strings to ensure their trophy products are received around the world. Mozambique, for example, is known to provide a passageway for poachers to enter and escape South Africa, especially Kruger, as it shares such a long, porous border (356km). There are also no strict penalties for rhino poaching, and possession of rhino horn and poaching is simply considered a misdemeanour offence in Mozambique. Poaching, however, is just one of a two-pronged killer issue for rhinos. 9 HUNTING The other side of the rhino-killing industry is marketted directly for the public. South Africa and the small kingdom of Swaziland are the only countries in the world where rhinos can be hunted for sport. Over the past decade, demand for rhino trophies have dramatically increased. But it isn’t from who you’d think. Originally, wealthy americans and europeans founded the industry of ‘trophy hunting’, thirsty for a ‘great African adventure’ living out their ‘huntsman’ fantasies. Nowadays however, wild animal trophies are not all for mounting on walls over a fireplace. If you rattle through the spreadsheets detailing hunting permits issued by South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs, permits are now issued to unassuming office blocks or ramshackle rural villages, in obscure corners of Vietnam. It is safe to assume these people are having their trips funded by unnamed benefactors, as it’s reported Vietnamese visitors stay only for a few days at a time and Vietnam is by no means known for a big-game hunting culture. They are there for the horns. And they pay R50 000, R60 000, R70 000 per kilogram. It sells for tens of thousands USD per kilogram on the Southeast Asian black market. Rhino prices have started to rise, and the game reserves supporting this are simply selling to the highest bidder - who cares if it’s an american or vietnamese pulling the trigger? In November 2016, Vietnam hosted the conference on illegal wildlife trade in Hanoi. Ahead of the conference, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development publicised the destruction of two tons of ivory and 70 kg of rhino horns, seized from illegal traders and traffickers. It was a demonstration on how serious they are about eradicating the illegal trade of animal products, and we can only hope that the determination of Vietnam to stop this trade is genuine and ongoing. Hunting game in this ‘pay, point and shoot’ way is called ‘psuedo-hunting’. it’s just shooting. This area of sport hunting is complex and makes our contribution as holiday-makers to wildlife ‘sanctuaries’ and safari parks very important. So listen up, as knowing this information is important to which wildlife organisations you support and which to stay away from. VOLUNTEERING AND PSEUDO-HUNTING In brief, psuedo-hunting is a tourism industry of international trophy-hunters paying big bucks to select a species, each with a different price tag, and to be chaperoned within a private game reserve with a shotgun to hunt and shoot at (not always on target, these are tourists after all) their chosen animal species. Within this industry are species-specific reserves, sometimes labelling themselves as ‘sanctuaries’. These ‘sanctuaries’ breed their own animals under the misleading proviso of ‘conservation reintroduction breeding programs’. This is where we come in. Paying volunteers come along to stroke a lion cub or cheetah, coo over a baby elephant, clean up their pens, feed them, and of course get the quintessential ‘volunteer in Africa’ photo to post on social media. We love it, and believe that we are contributing to the survival of major keystone species. Maybe we are, but not in the way our innocent naive volunteer would like to believe. Hand rearing wild animals is a tricky business. Best practice as identified by the Now or Never African Wildlife Trust includes minimal rhino-human interaction, 24-hour care and specialist vets. This means that taking care of baby rhinos is expensive; around R300 per rhino per day. It also means any good orphanage would not have any volunteers around to interfere with the rhinos. So although sanctuaries that do allow volunteers to handle the animals, and then go on to supply them to hunting reserves is clearly compromising morally and a downright lie to volunteers, the fact that threatened species are being bred successfully in captivity and kept alive (although ironically to eventually be shot), does mean that that species will avoid extinction. The take home message here is that it is important to be aware that when volunteering or visiting sanctuaries and handling young wild animals, that you may want to ask a few questions as to where the animal came from and where they are going.
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AuthorJenny was born in Dorset, and now is living in Mozambique. She participates in long-distance triathlon and rowing challenges. She has a conservation degree, and is currently working toward her masters degree studying the Stingrays of Mozambique. Archives
June 2017
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