BLOODY START TO NEW YEAR WITH BOTH RHINO AND POACHER LIVES LOST

By Betsy Crowfoot, January 18, 2012

The New Year is off to a grisly start with two suspected poachers killed in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, one day after eight adult rhinos were found dead and de-horned.

During an anti-poaching operation, SA National Parks spokesman Reynold Thakhuli said, two alleged poachers were slain in a shoot-out with rangers. The pair was from neighboring Mozambique, and in possession of hunting equipment and a .375 rifle.

Photo Credit: Iris Asbury

Rhinos once roamed Africa in great numbers but in the last century were hunted to near extinction, with the exception of protected areas like Kruger. But more than half of last year’s record rhino slayings took place within the renowned nature park. Prompted by this recent slaughter, SA Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa committed an additional 150 anti-poaching rangers to a force already 500-strong.

The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) revealed a total of 448 rhinos were lost to poaching in SA last year; up from 333 in 2010. Killed exclusively for the perceived medicinal value and status of their horns, that number included 19 critically endangered black rhinos and 429 white rhinos. SA is home to roughly 80 percent of the world’s remaining rhino population, and conservationists are concerned that if the plunder continues to escalate at this rate, the species will fail to rebound.

 

Wide-ranging Measures

Park and law enforcement officials are taking wide-ranging measures to halt the killings. Aggressive efforts pushed related arrests to 232 last year, as compared to 165 in 2010; and sentences for poachers and smugglers were increased. But many of the villains come from impoverished Mozambique: lured by organized crime and the big price tag a rhino horn can demand – upwards of US $250,000.

Photo Credit: Iria Asbury

Another bid would see the reconstruction of a 93-mile (150km), US $250-million electrified fence along the shared border, which would hopefully deter poaching and smuggling. Minister Molewa said further meetings were planned with Mozambican officials, with SA authorities calling for an “appropriate organized response” between the nations.

And Minister Molewa also appealed to Vietnam and China to educate their people regarding wildlife trafficking and the plight of rhinos. A bilateral treaty between SA and Vietnam, designed to ramp up cooperative law enforcement efforts, was negotiated in September 2011 but has yet to be signed.

Source: ECOLOGY TODAY, January 18, 2012