Schoolkids on safari.
When I was 11 years old –in 1980 in the Netherlands- my teacher told us schoolkids that rhino’s would be extinct in 2000… and that only some would survive in special created nature parks, but not anymore in the wild. Big schock for us innocent school children! But then immediately the good news came: we were going on a schooltrip to the biggest nature park in the Netherlands –Safaripark the Beekse Bergen, 120 hectares- to see those rhino’s. In that special created safaripark we also saw lions, elpehants, giraffe, zebra, monkeys, leopard and much more. It was a great day to see al these special animals.
At home I told my parents, and my father showed me in his somewhat dated book –‘Africa and Asia’ pictures of the rhino, and other animals. Then I read about South-Africa and the Kruger park, which was then 2 million hectares big!
Crossborder conservation.
These days we speak of the Greater Kruger Park: the Kruger National Park together with the private nature reserves on the west,
Gonarezhou in Zimabwe –north- and the Limpopo park in Mozambique –east- of the Kruger park. An enourmous crossborder conservation area, which has become a safe haven for the animals. At least that is what we like to believe.
Gonarezhou in Zimabwe –north- and the Limpopo park in Mozambique –east- of the Kruger park. An enourmous crossborder conservation area, which has become a safe haven for the animals. At least that is what we like to believe.
Kruger National Park, the world famous safari destination, was hardest hit losing 146 rhinos to poaching in 2010, authorities said. The park is home to the largest populations of both white and black rhinos in the country.
Rhinos constitute one of the much-revered Big- 5 of African wildlife tourism, including elephants, lions, leopards and Cape buffalo.
Rhino poaching across Africa has risen sharply in the past few years, threatening to reverse hard-won population increases achieved by conservation authorities during the 20th century.
The first alarming yearly spike occurred in 2008 when 83 rhinos were lost. South Africa has responded by intensifying its law enforcement efforts, and made approximately 162 poaching arrests last year.
Poaching can be described as illegal hunting animals, and in the old days poaching was common practice, as this was mainly done for the pot: to bring meat on the table. These days poaching is nothing more then making lots of money by organized criminals.
Criminal organisations
The current wave of poaching is being committed by sophisticated criminal networks using helicopters, night-vision equipment, veterinary tranquilisers and silencers to kill rhinos at night while attempting to avoid law enforcement patrols.
“The criminal syndicates operating in South Africa are highly organised and use advanced technologies. They are very well coordinated,” said Dr. Joseph Okori, WWF African Rhino Programme Manager. “This is not typical poaching.”
The recent killing increase is largely due to heightened demand for rhino horn, which has long been prized as an ingredient in traditional Asian medicine. It has been claimed recently that rhino horn possesses cancer-curing properties, despite there being no medical evidence to support the assertion.
“Only a concerted international enforcement pincer movement, at both ends of the supply and demand chain, can hope to nip this rhino poaching crisis in the bud,” said Tom Milliken, Director of TRAFFIC’s East and Southern Africa programme.
Milliken pointed to recently established coordination links between officials in South Africa and Vietnam, the country heavily implicated in the recent poaching surge. South Africa is home to approximately 21,000 rhinos, more than any other country in the world.
The current wave of poaching is being committed by sophisticated criminal networks using helicopters, night-vision equipment, veterinary tranquilisers and silencers to kill rhinos at night while attempting to avoid law enforcement patrols.
“The criminal syndicates operating in South Africa are highly organised and use advanced technologies. They are very well coordinated,” said Dr. Joseph Okori, WWF African Rhino Programme Manager. “This is not typical poaching.”
The recent killing increase is largely due to heightened demand for rhino horn, which has long been prized as an ingredient in traditional Asian medicine. It has been claimed recently that rhino horn possesses cancer-curing properties, despite there being no medical evidence to support the assertion.
“Only a concerted international enforcement pincer movement, at both ends of the supply and demand chain, can hope to nip this rhino poaching crisis in the bud,” said Tom Milliken, Director of TRAFFIC’s East and Southern Africa programme.
Milliken pointed to recently established coordination links between officials in South Africa and Vietnam, the country heavily implicated in the recent poaching surge. South Africa is home to approximately 21,000 rhinos, more than any other country in the world.
History and future of the rhino.
Black rhinos are listed as critically endangered with only about 4,200 remaining in existence, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Approximately 1,670 black rhinos were believed to be living in South Africa in 2009. The country's other resident species, white rhinos, are classified as near threatened on IUCN’s Red List of threatened species.
The recovery of African white rhinos from less than 100 in the late 19th century to more than 20,000 today is a phenomenal conservation success story that can largely be attributed to the combined efforts of South Africa’s state and private conservation authorities.
"Consumers of rhino horn across Asia, and in Vietnam in particular, are now seriously compromising this achievement by motivating criminal groups to kill rhinos. In order to halt this massacre, substantial resources need to go into law enforcement, both in Africa and in Asian consumer countries where all trade in rhino horn is illegal," said Dr. du Plessis.
In South Africa, WWF’s Black Rhino Range Expansion Project aims to increase the overall numbers of black rhino by making available additional breeding lands.
This is done by forming partnerships with owners of large areas of natural black rhino habitat. So far, 98 black rhino have been translocated to new range lands and at least 26 calves have been born on project sites.
The recovery of African white rhinos from less than 100 in the late 19th century to more than 20,000 today is a phenomenal conservation success story that can largely be attributed to the combined efforts of South Africa’s state and private conservation authorities.
"Consumers of rhino horn across Asia, and in Vietnam in particular, are now seriously compromising this achievement by motivating criminal groups to kill rhinos. In order to halt this massacre, substantial resources need to go into law enforcement, both in Africa and in Asian consumer countries where all trade in rhino horn is illegal," said Dr. du Plessis.
In South Africa, WWF’s Black Rhino Range Expansion Project aims to increase the overall numbers of black rhino by making available additional breeding lands.
This is done by forming partnerships with owners of large areas of natural black rhino habitat. So far, 98 black rhino have been translocated to new range lands and at least 26 calves have been born on project sites.
Here in the Hoedspruit-area 2 black rhino’s have been introduced in April 2010, in the Klaserie Game Reserve. They were also seen in Parsons and Olifants West of the Balule Nature Reserve in that same year. The dense vegetation with predominantly raisinbushes is ideal for this big browser.
Special anti-poaching units patroll the game-reserves. The South African army is patrolling the borders of the Kruger park with Mozambique in the ongoing fight. This year 3 poachers have been killed in a shoot-out with soldiers, near the Orpen gate of the Kruger park.
What can YOU do about against the Rhino killing?
There are a thousand one arguments why something cannot be done… I like to seek for that one argument what can be done. Here a few idea’s:
- Create awareness and become a member of the Save the Rhino organisation.
- Purchase a ‘Save the Rhino’ sticker and put in on your vehicle.
- Link this article on your facebook-account and tell the world.
- Stay a few days at a game-lodge in a reserve where rhino’s occur. With the conservation fees which you pay at the entrance gate, extra income for the game-reserve is created, which they can use to protect the rhino’s.
- Visit one of the national parks in South-Africa.
- Buy a piece of Big-5 land in the Balule Nature Reserve and thus become a custodian of nature.
·
One day when my kids are 11 years old I hope to tell them that there a lot of rhino’s still in the world, and we can go on bushwalks and gamedrives to see these magnificent creatures which look like relics of a bygone age.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten