Mass action urged to save rhinos, and eco-tourism, from poachers

2010/08/04
Guy Rogers

ORDINARY people must intervene to help save one of our most charismatic wildlife icons.

That’s the message from the Wildlife and Environment Society of SA (Wessa), which is urging the public to donate money to bolster anti-poaching measures and save the rhinoceros.

The move has been welcomed by Eastern Cape conservationists who have warned that poaching threatens the moral and economic fibre of the province’s lynchpin eco-tourism trade.

There are 21161 rhinos in South Africa, most of them in the Kruger National Park. But there are about 500 in the Eastern Cape alone, making it a key conservation pocket globally, especially for the more critically endangered black rhino.

Five rhino have been killed by poachers in the province, the last a black rhino cow over the Easter weekend at Kwantu Game Reserve near Grahamstown. The orphaned calf was subsequently killed by lions, a common “collateral damage” phenomenon of poaching.

Wessa spokesman Eve Holliday said the fund- raising initiative was prompted by the realisation that urgent action was needed.

With the last victim an eight- year-old white rhino bull shot dead with an AK-47 rifle at Karkloof Spa near Pietermaritzburg on July 23, at least 125 have already been lost to poaching countrywide this year, compared to 83 in 2008 and 122 last year, she said.

Poachers have killed roughly double the number of white rhino, perhaps because it is a grazer and can be found more easily on the open plain.

“The general consensus is that rhino populations generally north of (our) borders are decimated and that is why poachers are turning their attention to us.”

The horn demand comes from the East where it is used in various traditional medicines. It also used in Yemen for the handles of Arab daggers.

“The major concern is the exponential increase over the last four years,” said Holliday.

Wessa is encouraging people to make a donation through its SMS line. Donors can text “Rhino” to 40706 or visit the Wessa website www.wessa.org.za.

Proceeds will be used to improve security on all state and private parks holding rhino by upgrading the skills of existing anti-poaching teams, making the latest anti-poaching technology available and adding more trained rangers.

It will pay for research to find more innovative ways to stop poaching and comprehensive investigation leading to the arrest and prosecution of the culprits. And it will be used to support other initiatives and bodies fighting for the same cause.

“The situation is getting out of hand. Although we trust that the authorities are doing what they can, we feel it is time for civil society to also step in to help take determined action.”

Prof Graham Kerley, director of the Centre for African Conservation Ecology at NMMU, said the Eastern Cape had more rhino than entire “safari countries” like Botswana and Zambia and more than Kenya and Tanzania together, “so we have a big responsibility in terms of conserving” them.

“By allowing rhinos to be poached, we are putting ... eco-tourism at risk.”

Entrepreneurs were very important to conservation in this province and poaching could force them out of the market.