CRACKING DOWN ON RHINO POACHING

COMBATING RHINO POACHING


Tracker Patrol

In January 2013, AFP reported: South African authorities have stepped up anti-poaching operations in the Kruger Park, including deploying the army to the park and a surveillance aircraft. The South African National Park chiefs executive, David Mabunda believes that anti-poaching operations were starting to yield results, despite increased incursions from Mozambique. "Our operations are more militaristic. The number of poachers arrested has increased inside and outside the park," said Mabunda. The vast Kruger Park, which is the country's top safari destination, accounts for 40 percent of the world rhino population. [Source: AFP, January 31, 2013]

Britain’s Prince William is involved in the fight against rhinoceros poachers. He spent part of his gap year at Lewa Wildlife Sanctuary in Kenya, which had 126 rhinos in 2013. When he was there in 2001 poaching was not a problem. Since then the sanctuary has lost 11 animals, five in one year. The prince’s experience at Lewa inspired him to become patron of the UK wildlife charity Tusk Trust, He has spoken publicly against poachers. In June 2013 he called those involved as “extremely ignorant, selfish and utterly wrong”, and warned of the effects on African tourism. [Source: Jessica Hatcher and Valentine Low. The Times, January 3 2013 |=|]

Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, formerly a family-owned cattle ranch, covers 62,000 acres of pristine conservation land and is home to more than 10 per cent of Kenya’s black rhino population. “Lewa is now more than ever determined to counter these threats by increasing our security and monitoring efforts,” said Mike Watson, the sanctuary’s chief executive. Lewa’s 150 armed wildlife rangers are trained to British army standards and granted Kenya Police Reservist status, allowed to carry automatic weapons and make arrests. |=|

Officials and nonprofits in South Africa are pre-emptively cutting some rhinos' horns in an attempt to save them, but some poachers are killing anyway just for the nubs. The poaching of rhinos in South Africa has become such a problem that a local charity has appealed to American musician, 50 Cent, to become a godfather of rhino in order to create global awareness against the vice.

Rachel Nuwer wrote in Scientific American, “Matching DNA extracted from the rhino horns to rhino database records could help the researchers figure out which individual animals were killed, narrowing the scope of the investigation. No one knows how large the trade really is; seizure figures almost certainly represent only a fraction of the total amount of trafficked goods. Based on impounded caches and animals found dead in the field, Milliken estimated that 1,521 rhino horns were destined for East Asia between January 2006 and September 2009. In that time, authorities seized only 43 and a further 129 were found in the field, totaling a dismal 11 percent recovery rate. [Source: Rachel Nuwer, Scientific American, March 26, 2012]

Anti- Rhino-Poacher Rangers

Peter Gwin wrote in National Geographic “The rifle shot boomed through the darkening forest just as Damien Mander arrived at his campfire after a long day training game ranger recruits in western Zimbabwe's Nakavango game reserve. His thoughts flew to Basta, a pregnant black rhinoceros, and her two-year-old calf. That afternoon one of his rangers had discovered human footprints following the pair's tracks as Basta sought cover in deep bush to deliver the newest member of her threatened species.[Source: Peter Gwin, National Geographic, March 2012]

“Damien, a hard-muscled former Australian Special Forces sniper with an imposing menagerie of tattoos, including "Seek & Destroy" in gothic lettering across his chest, swiveled his head, trying to place the direction of the shot. "There, near the eastern boundary," he pointed into the blackness. "Sounded like a .223," he said, identifying the position and caliber, a habit left over from 12 tours in Iraq. He and his rangers grabbed shotguns, radios, and medical kits and piled into two Land Cruisers. They roared into the night, hoping to cut off the shooter. The rangers rolled down their windows and listened for a second shot, which would likely signal Basta's calf was taken as well.

“It was an ideal poacher's setup: half-moon, almost no wind. The human tracks were especially ominous. As the Land Cruiser bucked over rutted tracks, Damien did a quick calculation — between his vehicles he had two antiquated shotguns with about a dozen shells. Based on the sound of the shot, the poachers held an advantage in firepower. If the rangers did pick up a trail and followed on foot, they would have to contend with lions, leopards, and hyenas out hunting in the dark.

“In the backseat of one of the speeding Land Cruisers, Benzene, a Zimbabwean ranger who had spent nearly a year watching over Basta and her calf and knew the pair intimately, loaded three shells into his shotgun, flicked on the safety, and chambered a round. As we bounced into the night, he said, "It is better for the poachers if they meet a lion than if they meet us."

“After patrolling all night with no sign of the poachers, Damien organized a search for the rhinos. A cold rain fell, and mist filled the forests and valleys as the rangers walked in lines looking for blood or a carcass in the undergrowth. As of midday, Basta and her calf were still missing. As Damien drove to check the rhinos' preferred feeding areas, he described how his days in Iraq protecting UN convoys gave him special insight into what animals face from poachers. "We got hit by IEDs a few times, and I lost some mates," he said quietly. "I know what it's like to be hunted by humans."

“Once he left the military, he was looking for a new life and realized his experience training Iraqi police recruits to take control of their chaotic country matched perfectly with Zimbabwe's chaotic wilderness areas, where game rangers are often ill equipped, poorly paid, and bribed by poachers. He used money saved from his tours in Iraq to found the International Anti Poaching Foundation, which trains, equips, and places game rangers in public and private reserves in Zimbabwe for free. He recruits candidates from the poorest communities because that is where many poachers are from — and where the idea that wildlife is more valuable alive than dead needs to take root. Won't such ideals pale against the allure of big money from poaching? "People said Iraq would never get better, and that's happening," he said. "I am taking the long view here too."

Light Sentences for Rhino Poaching and Rhino Horn Trafficking


Although powdered rhino horn pound for pound is now worth more than cocaine or heroin, the prison terms for trafficking in it are a fraction of those for the equivalent weight of narcotics. The sentence for a first-time offender smuggling a kilo of heroin in the U.S. is a minimum of 10 years in prison; according to Grace, a first-time offender smuggling a kilo of horn would get off with less than a year, and more likely a fine. “It’s a high-profit, low-risk crime,” he says.

Rachel Nuwer wrote in Scientific American, “Legislation is in place to issue serious punishment to illegal wildlife traffickers. All of the Asian countries partaking in the trade, including China and Vietnam, are members of CITES, which emphasizes international cooperation and provides thorough guidelines for enforcing wildlife trade laws. Under Hong Kong’s Import and Export Ordinance, anyone found guilty of importing un-manifested cargos faces seven years imprisonment and fines up to US$257,000; anyone guilty of importing endangered species for commercial purposes faces two years imprisonment and US$642,000 in fines. In mainland China, the death penalty used to be issued for people caught importing large consignments of ivory, though those sentences were typically suspended for good behavior and capital punishment no longer applies to wildlife crimes. [Source: Rachel Nuwer, Scientific American, March 26, 2012 /=]

“All too often, in Asia and Africa, criminals get away with their actions. “Penalties are generally weak and loopholes are exploited,” Tom Milliken, of TRAFFIC says. Judges in Africa allow foreign nationals out on bail—usually the equivalent of a measly fraction of a rhino horn or elephant tusks’ value—only to find the criminals skip the country. When guilty parties do make it to court, fines for wildlife crimes are readily paid, and again constitute a sum much less than the value of the wildlife products for which they are being prosecuted. /=\

“When asked how much these body parts cost, Milliken declines even to say what the market value of the wildlife goods might be because of the corrupting impact such information can have. Enforcement officers, upon finding out how much horns are worth, sometimes seize the horns and then immediately go into negotiations with the criminals. When Milliken first got involved in conservation over 30 years ago, an Indonesian diplomat asked him for wildlife good prices. “You usually think we’re all on the same side, but the next thing I realized, that person was directly involved in the trade,” he said, “It was a big wake-up call, let me tell you.” Milliken said the wildlife goods have never been as valuable as they are now, and “that’s as good as it gets from me.” /=\

“South Africa recently bolstered rhino poaching and horn possession to a priority one crime, putting it on par with human trafficking and murder. Across the country, 21 prosecutors are now dedicated exclusively to rhino crime. In June, a South African judge sentenced two Vietnamese nationals to 8 and 12 years imprisonment for rhino poaching. The judge commented, “I want my grandchildren to be able to see rhinos,” and warned that no leniency would be shown to anyone entering his court guilty of wildlife crimes. This case seems to be isolated, though, and local South Africans often get much leaner sentences. /=\

“Even with the increased legal support, conservationists worry that it won’t be enough. Corruption runs rampant, rangers are outnumbered, and multi-national cooperation is still largely lacking. “Despite improvements in the situation, we’re still struggling,” Milliken said. Inevitably, every large-scale seizure ends up without a successful arrest, prosecution, or conviction. Bennett suspects a vast global network of players is involved in this trade, probably with a few head honchos calling most of the shots. Though Anson Wong, a notorious Malaysian “kingpin” wildlife smuggler, was arrested about 17 months ago, he was released in February on good behavior. At some point, the legal system usually fails, Milliken says. “Right now, the traders are basically running circles around everyone,” Shepherd said. “They’re still winning the game.” /=\

Kaziranga National Park Shoot-to-Kill Anti-Poacher Policy

Kaziranga National Park in India, the home of the majority of Asia’s one horn rhinoceroses, has a problem with poachers. Many are after the rhinoceros horn. The park has a shoot to kill policy. One guard told Travel & Leisure magazine, “ We don’t catch the poachers’s alive. We shoot them, from a distance or up close. If we hand them over alive, they’ll pay 5,000 rupees [$110] to police and walk out, and come back. We all get excited by the hunt when we’re after the poachers.”

The guard then explained how they caught two poachers in a boat and few nights earlier: one was shot dead and one fell off the boat is presumed dead. When the guard was asked if he had any second thought about killing the poachers, he said, “No. It’s because of them that we don’t know day from night, working out here in the jungle 24 hours. They are our enemies.”

To adequately patrol Kaziranga Forest, more forest personnel were employed and they were given better guns and weapons to battle with the poachers. A senior officer at the park explain that when he arrived at the park in the late 1980s many rhinos were being killed. On one particularly bad night he counted five dead rhinos. After that he stepped up patrols and made other changes and 13 poachers were killed in a six month period. He said, “It’s better to kill than be killed, its better to be on the offensive than defensive.

There are 1,250 rhinos in the park, up form 1,100 in 1988. In 1986 poachers killed 41 rhinos. In 2000 only two were killed. Between 1990 and 2000. A total of 80 poachers were killed. Poachers aren’t the only danger the rhinos face. 1998, 39 were drowned when the Brahmaputra River overflowed its banks. The floods were exacerbated by erasion and deforestation in the area.

Jessica Frei of Save the Rhinos wrote in December 2013: “Recently, two poachers were killed by forest protection guards in an encounter at Kaziranga. Guards came face to face with a group of five poachers while they were patrolling the park. The group was moving under suspicious conditions near Malani camp under Bagori range. Out of five, two poachers were gunned down by the forest personnel on the spot while the rest three managed to run away. The guards have recovered one .303 rifle from the poachers. The state government of Assam has requested for an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation because of the rise in wildlife crime mainly the poaching of one-horned rhino found in Assam. N K Vasu, the director of the park, updated with the figure that 16 rhinos have been killed and a further 40 have died a natural death this year. [Source: Jessica Frei, Save the Rhinos, December 2013]

Nepal Arrests 14 Over Rhino Poaching

In October 2013, the BBC reported: “At least fourteen alleged members of a gang of rhinoceros poachers have been arrested in Nepal, officials say. Those arrested include Buddhi Bahadur Praja, the alleged leader of a cross-border smuggling ring. Police accuse Mr Praja of killing more than 12 rhinos in Nepal in the past six years. There has been no immediate comment from any of those arrested. [Source: BBC, October 7, 2013]

"It was a joint operation by the Nepalese army and the special police," Kamal Jung Kunwar, a senior official at Nepal's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, told the BBC. "Fourteen people have been arrested in this operation in the past three weeks. We have seized two guns and four bullets from the gang." Mr Kunwar said it was the biggest arrest of poachers in a single operation in recent years. "It was one of our informers who provided us vital clues about the location of these poachers," he added.

"This year so far only one rhino has been killed by poachers in Chitwan Park," Mr Kunwar said. Officials say there are more than 1,000 Nepalese soldiers in the Chitwan national park involved in anti-poaching activities. They operate from more than 40 positions, some deep inside the forest.

Serengeti Rhino Poachers Killed in Police Custody

In January 2011, The Citizen Correspondent reported: “Police in Serengeti District, Mara Region, have reportedly killed a man suspected to have been among the poachers who killed a rhino in the Serengeti National Park. The Bonchugu Village chairman, Mr Makena Mwikwabe, identified the man as Chacha Marara who was arrested together with three other relatives. He said the four suspects were arrested at their home in connection with the killing of one of the rhinos that were flown into the country from South Africa.

The village chairman said the suspects were taken to Mugumu Central Police Station where they were reportedly tortured. “It is believed that Marara was seriously beaten by the police, a beating which caused his death,” he said, adding that the police claimed that the man died after he jumped off a vehicle that was ferrying him to the central police station. Mr Mwikwabe said the relatives of the deceased, who he identified as Baru Marara, Mwita Marara and Mwita Philemon who were also under police custody, had told him that they were all beaten by the police but Mr Marara bore most of the torture.

The rhino that was found dead in December, last year, with the horns missing was one of the five Eastern Black Rhinos brought into the country from South Africa mid last year. The five rhinos were received with much fanfare and a huge PR campaign involving President Jakaya Kikwete, who travelled to the Senapa to witness the offloading of the five rare rhinos from the aircraft upon arrival from South Africa.

The minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Mr Ezekiel Maige, said that protection of the endangered rhinos against poachers in the Senapa would now be reinforced by aerial patrols. More armed rangers have also been deployed into the vast park since the rhino’s killing. Mr Maige said the government was deeply concerned by increasing cases of poaching in the Serengeti National Park. He said an operation to track down the rhino killers was underway and that already 10 suspects have so far been arrested. [Source: The Citizen Correspondentm January 4, 2011]

Rhino Poacher Shot Dead in South Africa

March 2012, ISSU reported: “A 79-year-old suspected rhino poacher was shot dead at the Bubi Conservancy outside Beit Bridge during a shoot-out with game rangers, police have said. Local police spokesperson C/Supt Lawrence Chinhengo said the incident occurred at Taula Safari Ranch in the Bubi Conservancy, east of the border town.”The man, who was armed with an AK47 rifle and in the company of a man who is still at large, had strayed onto the Bubi conservancy when they came into close contact with game rangers who were on an anti-poaching operation in the area, resulting in an exchange of fire,” he said. [Source: ISSUU, March 16, 2012]

The victim, identified as Motakela Mukosiku, was shot in the left collarbone and died instantly. The other suspected poacher took the rifle and managed to flee from the scene. Chinhengo said the game rangers later tried to trace the escaped suspected poacher, but failed to locate him. They then reported the matter to the police and the body was taken to the Beit Bridge District Hospital mortuary. Chinhengo said they had recovered a satchel, which contained 38 rounds of live ammunition, a torch, an axe, a kitchen knife, gloves, a pair of pliers, the dead man’s mobile phone, his national identify card and a bottle of gun oil.

Three spent cartridges were also found at the scene. Chinhengo said there were no casualties among the rangers. He said they had since launched a manhunt for the other suspect on the run. “As police we continue to warn poachers against straying into protected safari areas as they risk being killed and we believe this incident will also send a serious warning to would-be poachers,” he said. Of late, there has been an increase in the number of poaching activities in the country, with rhinos being mostly targeted. Last week, two armed poachers were shot dead and a third injured in a shoot-out with game rangers in the Mkanga Safari Area outside Beit Bridge.

In May 2012, News 24 reported: “As the total number of rhino poached in the Kruger National Park reaches 130, it’s nice to read news like this. SANParks has reported that two suspects have been arrested, and one killed, in a shoot out in the Crocodile Bridge section of Kruger. The three men were found after SANParks rangers, police and members of the military investigated the killing of a rhino cow and her calf early yesterday. A shootout ensued, where one man was fatally wounded. The men were in the possession of four fresh rhino horns, a hunting rifle and an axe. Unfortunately, the rhino cow and her calf could not be saved. The two men arrested. [Source: Simon Gerber News24, May 11 2012]

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, David Attenborough books, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.

Last updated December 2024


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