In a nine-hour operation at the reserve yesterday, the three rhino, two males and a female, were darted separately, had holes drilled into their horns, and poison injected into them.

Inverdoorn owner Damian Vergnaud hopes this will deter poachers, who have begun targeting Western Cape rhino.

The poison will not kill, but is designed to make anyone who consumes the ground-up horn feel sick. Most poached horn is smuggled into Asia where it fetches sky-high prices in the traditional medicine trade, although it has no proven medicinal qualities.

The horns were also injected with a bright-red dye that effectively defaced their interior, making them unusable as dagger handles or other ornamentation. Rhino horn has been used, particularly in Yemen, for dagger handles. The dye and poison combination was developed by Denel and has been designed to bind with keratin, the substance horn, hair and nails are made of.

The third part of the anti-poaching cocktail was barium, injected into smaller holes, which will show up on X-rays if the horns are smuggled through airport security.

Inverdoorn owner Damian Vergnaud, who was present throughout the operations that began before dawn yesterday, said yesterday: “I wanted to destroy the market value of the horns, and I hope other game reserve owners will follow what we’ve done. That way we can destroy rhino horn as a product. I think it will work if many people do it. I want everyone to know that we have done this to the horns.”

Wildlife vet and consultant Alex Lewis flew from Hoedspruit to do the operation, assisted by Ceres vet Mark Walton. “When poachers attacked the rhino at Aquila, I thought it might be a one-off, but we increased security. Then when Fairy Glen was attacked we took it very seriously. But I don’t have the funds for this level of anti-poaching.” He contacted Lewis, who has spent a week at Inverdoorn discussing options which included cutting off and burning the horns and inserting tracking devices in them. Eventually, he decided on the dye and poison option.

They made a wooden horn replica and experimented with injecting the cocktail.

They also made a circular metal device, which screws on to the horn and allows the dye to be pumped in under pressure, so that it penetrates the horn.

Around noon, the vets and rangers headed out to search for the male.

Lewis and ranger Gert Bobbeje tracked it and darted the animal.

The Cape Times followed and saw the rhino “high-stepping” as the drug took effect, and then it sank to its feet. As soon as it was down rangers tied a blanket around its eyes to protect them and reduce stress. While some trickled water over it to keep it cool, others off-loaded the small generator to power Lewis’s drill.

He measured the horn, started the generator and used a grinder to flatten a section. The air was filled with the smell of diesel and burning hair. When he used the drill to bore a large hole into the horn, little white flakes spun off and fell into the dust like flakes of dried coconut. Then he attached the metal circle around the horn and put the nozzle of the pump through a hole in the metal. Bobbeje then pumped the dye-poison mix into the horn.

Meanwhile, Walton took blood samples and then drilled smaller holes to inject a combination of glue and barium, which shows up on X-ray. Then they filled the holes with glue, and bound the horn in tape to allow the glue to dry. The rhino will rub the tape off eventually.

The operation took about 40 minutes. Lewis gave the animal the antidote to the immobilising drug, everyone got on the vehicles, and the bull stood up. It looked a little whoozy, but then trotted off.

Two rhinos were dehorned at Aquila Game Reserve in August, one of which died. Two were dehorned at Fairy Glen, near Worcester, two weeks ago. The male is still on the danger list. – Cape Times

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Not so long ago, the media carried reports of Chinese nationals in Mushumbi, a remote previously wildlife-rich area in the Lower Guruve District, who were allegedly poisoning elephants in the area for their tusks.

We also recently received reports from the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF), that illegal hunters in the Charara area of Kariba have come up with a plan to try and prevent the authorities from discovering their activities.

It has come to their attention that when they shoot an animal, vultures circling in the sky above have been giving them away. So in order to avoid detection, they are now shooting animals and spraying them with a poison such as DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane — a deadly synthetic pesticide).

When the vultures feed off the carcass, they die from the poison, hence reducing the number of vultures available to give them away.

From such reports, it is clear that poaching is not going anywhere anytime soon as the illegal hunters have evidently upped their game in their relentless bid to self-enrich at the expense of the country’s wildlife  and overall ecological balance.

Poachers are mainly targeting the rhinoceros and the elephants for the ivory and reports show that if the poaching continues at the current pace, the rhinoceros will especially become extinct, and soon. Already there are very few left.

There are no exact statistics to show how much wildlife Zimbabwe still has as the Ministry of Environment and Human Resources Management and the department of National Parks have not conducted an audit that would take stock of the animals.

Self-enrichment behind rhino poaching

Johnny Rodrigues, the chairman for ZCTF, a non-profit organisation that strives to save the country’s wildlife, said the Environment ministry has not carried out audits because it is fully aware that the country has been cleared of most of its wildlife, partly for the pot but mostly for the ivory and skin.
Rodrigues insisted the estimated figures that the responsible authorities are currently basing their strategies and policies on are not a true reflection of the situation on the ground.

The ZCTF website says more than 90% of the game in private game ranches has been lost to poachers and illegal hunters in the past five years.
One only has to travel to a place like Gonarezhou National Park that was previously infested with elephants, to tell that the wildlife numbers have drastically depleted, said Rodrigues.

The problem would not have been so grave were it not for the get-rich-quick attitude that seems to have pervaded Zimbabwe. Curbing the gruesome practice would be easier if more people were willing to put the country’s wildlife ahead of personal gain.

The arrests of poachers are rare instances and reports of some police officers that are allegedly working in cahoots with the poachers are rife.
It is therefore of paramount importance that the responsible ministry puts proper measures in place that will transmit in a clear manner the message that poaching will not be tolerated. Those that are caught on the wrong side of the law must be dealt with accordingly.

Considering the rate of poaching in Zimbabwe, curbing the practice will take a lot more than just occasional public rebuke as the class of poachers that we are dealing with now requires smarter and sterner measures.

Wildlife is a major part of Zimbabwe and has since time immemorial added to the country’s appeal, which at one time made it a worthy destination for many tourists.

Article at the following link:
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/local/31344-poachers-devise-new-tricks-to-evade-detection.html

Sourced via Save The Elephants for ecoAfrica Travel

“We need to capture the attention of international governments, particularly those who have influence over China. Through massive public and governmental pressure on the major importers of the horn, we have a chance to save these animals,” says director of the Wilderness Foundation, Andrew Muir. “Escalating poaching figures and continuing brutal attacks on rhinos show that an inter-continental effort is needed to fight back.”

The Wilderness Foundation will be presenting a petition against rhino poaching to the US congress this September. “The petition will be presented to the highest governmental powers and is a vital part of the lobbying campaign which is needed to change the laws regarding the importation of rhino horn into foreign countries,” says Muir.

It is crucial that the petition conveys a powerful message to international authorities. “We need as many signatures as possible to highlight the severity of the issue, and thus secure the full weight of support from the US in joining the fight to save the rhino,” says Muir.

The Wilderness Foundation is a project-driven conservation and leadership organisation that encourages, plans and protects wild lands and wilderness, uplifts the knowledge and lives of citizens and stimulates an environmental ethos among current and future leaders. It envisages a world that has sufficient intact natural ecosystems and wilderness areas that are valued and efectively protected for the benefit of all species.

Join the fight and help us gather signatures by encouraging people to sing up:
http://wildernessfoundation.co.za/savetherhinos/

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Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said the incidents occurred on Rietvley Farm in Polokwane and Welgevonden Farm just outside Modimolle in the late afternoon.

“The man was shot at Rietvley Farm after he and his four accomplices allegedly failed to heed police instructions to surrender,” Hangwani said.

He allegedly pointed a R5 automatic rifle at police, who then retaliated with gunfire. Another suspect was shot in the buttocks and taken to hospital under police guard. Three others then surrendered.

“In Welgevoden Farm, two suspects, one who is an employee of the Limpopo provincial government, were cornered by police, and laid down their arms without any resistance,” he said.

During both operations, police managed to recover a police-issued R5 automatic rifle with 34 live rounds, a silencer, a Toyota van, two axes, and a .307 rifle with a silencer.

The alleged poachers, excluding the Limpopo government employee, were Mozambican and Zimbabwean nationals, who were residing in Tembisa and Soshanguve townships in Gauteng.

Limpopo provincial commissioner Lieutenant General Amon Mashigo said: “I hope this will be a lesson to other poachers that police are serious about their work and will not hesitate to protect themselves and arrest anyone including government officials who are fuelling this criminal act.”

All suspects would appear in the Modimolle and Polokwane Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

- SAPA

Sourced via news24 for ecoAfrica Travel

Within the last year, Aquila’s anti poaching team has deterred two attempted rhino poaching attempts. In this weekend’s case, Aquila’s anti-poaching team is said to have surprised the poachers as the first rhino was found with its front horn sawn off with a chain saw and they left having only had time to get half way through the second horn before retreating.

This rhino has lost a lot of blood and is fighting for his life. The loss of blood and position it was lying in while drugged could have caused massive muscle and organ damage which could be fatal. This rhino was the first rhino reintroduced to Aquila and to the Western Cape in over 250 years since shot out by hunters.

The second rhino that was found was still alive and is recovering well.

A third rhino died in the attacks; its face literally hacked off with pangas and machetes proving that there were two active teams attacking the Aquila rhinos, one using a chain saw, the other using pangas and machetes to dehorn the rhino.

Aquila’s remaining three rhino are safe and fine.

The security team has been briefed and 24 guards have been positioned at strategic points along the boundaries and on higher ground to keep guard.

Rhino poachers are well equipped, heavily armed with automatic weapons, night and thermal vision equipment and well trained their modus operandi is to fly at night with thermal vision.

They can spot a rhino through bushes and mist over four miles away, they GPS the location of the rhino and drop their poaching teams off several kilometers away to walk in and normally dart the baby first so that the mother and father stay to protect and don’t run away.

These teams are ruthless and will stop at nothing to kill and maim for financial gain. In this case they got away with a street value of over 4 million rand in rhino horn.

Aquila is offering R100 000 reward for information leading to an arrest and prosecution of these poachers. Informants details, which will be kept confidential,can contact searl@aquilasafari.com.

Anyone wanting to monitor the progress of the rhino and the anti poaching campaign can follow Aquila on Facebook  (www.facebook.com/aquilasafari) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/aquilasafaris) pages.

Sourced via Tourism Update Online for ecoAfrica Travel

Evidence of the syndicate’s modus operandi emerged this week from a statement made to the police that led to the recent arrest of its leader, Chemlong Lemtongthai (43). The syndicate is alleged to have traded at least 40 rhino horns and placed an “order” for 50 more to be supplied in the next few months.

The evidence brings to light a growing trend among organised syndicates that are using hunting permits to export illegal rhino horns to the Far East. Almost a quarter of the 222 rhinos killed in South Africa this year have been “hunts” authorised by provincial conservation authorities.

A statement made to the police by Tim Smith* who worked with the syndicate, led to the arrest of Lemtongthai and five Thai “hunters” in Edenvale on July 9. He described how Lemtongthai and his sidekick, Punpitak Chunchom, paid millions of rands in cash for live rhinos.

Smith claims in his statement to the police that Marnus Steyl, a wildlife trader based in Brits, North West, bought the rhinos from auctions and private owners.

Steyl is then alleged to have moved the rhinos to a farm in North West and soon after that they would be “hunted”, in contravention of regulations that the animals must be given time to acclimatise.

“Once the rhinos were established on Steyl’s farm he would call Lemtongthai and tell him how many animals were in place for a ‘hunt’ … [If] Steyl had supplied three rhinos Lemtongthai would call Chunchom and tell him that he needed three ‘hunters’ and Chunchom would know that he needed to find three Thai nationals to hunt the rhinos,” Smith said in the statement.

Usually friends were called in, or Thai women working as strippers and prostitutes were paid R5 000 to do the job. They were provided by a Midrand, Gauteng, woman wanted in Thailand for human trafficking. Their passports and fingerprints were needed to complete the necessary hunting permits and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species paperwork.

Smith claims in the statement that “once the fingerprinting is done, the ladies are taken out to Steyl’s farm, where they are made comfortable and then introduced to the professional hunter.

“[He] would show them the rifle and even take the girls to a quiet spot where they could let off one or two shots so that they can later say that they have at least fired the weapon.”

An official from North West Parks would be called out to witness the “hunt”, measure the horn, scan the microchip and put the details in the professional hunting register. “I believe he would also get a kickback for being so cooperative,” Smith’s statement said.

After the rhino was dehorned and the carcass chopped up for delivery to a butcher in Vryburg, where the meat was sold off in boerewors and burgers, the horn was taken to a taxidermist who mounted it on a shield to look like a hunting trophy.

“The trophy is just a cover for getting the horn out of South Africa and into Asia. Once in Asia, it obviously would enter the black market as rhino horn for ‘medicinal purposes’. The person allegedly ‘hunting’ the rhino would never see the animal or its horn again.”

Lemtongthai argued with some of the rhino traders about the prices they were charging upfront, saying he would prefer to pay after the horns had been weighed, Smith’s statement said.

He felt he had paid too much for two rhinos shot in September or October last year — about R575 000 for one and R450 000 for the second — and told Smith that in future it would be done in a different way. “I remember his actual words: ‘We shoot, we cut, we weigh, then pay.’”

Smith said in the statement that Lemtongthai paid R65 000 a kilogram for the horns and sold them for $55 000 (R380 000) a kilogram. With the average horn weighing 5kg, he had made more than R60-million in profit on the 40 rhinos shot to date.

Smith said he decided to expose the syndicate after discovering an order to Steyl for 50 more rhinos from Lemtongthai’s company, Xaysavang Trading Export-Import Company.

“The receipt of this order made me realise he is just hellbent on killing as many rhinos as possible, for no other reason than harvesting the horn,” Smith said.

Xaysavang Trading Export-Import Company is based in Laos, a tiny country bordered by China, Thailand, Burma, Vietnam and Cambodia. It openly sells monkeys to a Chinese laboratory for use in experiments and in July 2009 was linked to the illegal sale of ivory and 18kg of rhino horn in Kenya.

According to forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan, who assisted in Lemtongthai’s arrest, he is number two in the syndicate, which is headed by a Vietnamese resident, Vixay Keovang, also known as Vixay Xaysavang.

Before it moved into rhino poaching in South Africa the company traded in large quantities of lion carcasses and bones supplied by breeders in the North West and the Free State. Days before Lemtongthai’s arrest, Chunchom, his man on the ground in South Africa, was deported for the illegal possession of lion claws and teeth.

Steyl and the professional hunters have not been charged. Steyl did not respond to questions from the Mail & Guardian.

State okayed ‘hunts’
Recent figures indicate that at least 60 of the 222 rhinos killed in South Africa this year were “hunts” authorised by provincial conservation bodies.

The department of environmental affairs did not answer the M&G’s questions about the number of permits that had been issued for rhino hunts this year.

When the M&G first reported, in July 2008, that wildlife traffickers were laundering hunting permits to smuggle horns to the Far East, figures available showed that 205 rhino hunting permits had been issued in 2006.

Hawks spokesperson McIntosh Polela said this week that the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure, a collaborative task team set up in May to deal with rhino poaching, had so far focused on the Kruger National Park because of the high density of its rhino population and because it made up 80% of poaching incidents. The Kruger would remain the focus “until we get things under control”, but the task team was spreading out to provinces affected by rhino poaching activities.

Cases included those of Chemlong Lemtongthai, the alleged leader of a Thai syndicate, and an alleged Limpopo syndicate headed by hunter Dawie Groenewald, Polela said.

Groenewald and 10 others were arrested last September. They face charges that include fraud, corruption, assault, defeating the ends of justice and contravening the Organised Crime Act.

Despite the charges, Limpopo conservation officials have issued Groenewald with 12 rhino hunting permits in recent months and at least 17 transport permits.

The permits came to light after the Democratic Alliance’s Limpopo leader, Desiree van der Walt, posed questions to Pitsi Moloto, the province’s environment minister. Moloto said the magistrate had prohibited Groenewald from engaging in any activity related to rhinos on his farm, but that “the period set by the magistrate expired and he was allowed to conduct his business as usual”.

Last week Groenewald offered to buy nine white rhinos from a private sanctuary in Limpopo. He backed down in the face of an outcry from conservationists and the rhinos were sold to Mpumalanga game rancher John Hume. Paul O’Sullivan, an investigator who worked with the anti-poaching task team to expose Lemtongthai and the Xaysavang Trading Export-Import Company, admitted that a link existed between Groenewald and the Thai syndicate.

In response to questions about whether Groenewald was supplying rhinos for the Thai syndicate’s “canned hunts” O’Sullivan said: “Yes, he’s at it as well, just with another syndicate that also traces back to Lemtongthai’s boss.”

Groenewald’s lawyer, Thomas Grobler, said Groenewald denied any connection with Lemtongthai, the Xaysavang Trading Export-Import Company, or its owner, Vixay Xaysavang. Polela also said there was no indication of a link.

* Name has been changed

Stripping national assets.  The company of Thai resident Chemlong Lemtongthai (left) is accused of ordering 50 rhinos to be killed in ‘canned’ hunts.

Sourced via Mail & Guardian online for ecoAfrica Travel

Duc Manh Chu and Phi Hung Nguyeng were arrested after scanner operators at the airport detected suspicious objects in the men’s luggage and alerted the South African Police Service.

Chu was sentenced to 10 years for the illegal possession of 12 rhino horns and an additional two years for fraud, while Nguyeng was sentenced to six years for the illegal possession of six rhino horns and an additional two years for fraud. This is the highest penalty handed down for a biodiversity crime to date under the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act.

The magistrate said the penalty for possession of rhino horn was the same whether the couriers had killed the rhino or not.

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The ranger, who has yet to appear in court and therefore cannot be named, was arrested after he was linked to previous rhino poaching incidents that took place in the park.

“Internal disciplinary and criminal processes against the ranger will run concurrently and we hope for a speedy trial and believe that justice will prevail. Rangers are guardians and a key force in protecting these rhinos; those who do not aspire to these values should be flushed out and brought to book,” said CEO of SANParks, David Mabunda.

This year alone a total of 131 suspected poachers have been arrested around the country, of whom 65 were arrested in the KNP. Since January this year, throughout the country, 15 suspected poachers have been killed and nine injured in clashes with authorities in the KNP.

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The Masai Mara has lost more than two-thirds of its wildlife over the past three decades, according to scientists. The numbers are worrying. Impala, warthog, giraffe, tipi and kongoni have declined by more than 70%. The great wildebeest migration now involves 64% fewer animals than in the early 1980s and the resident wildebeest population has fallen by 97%.

A study published in 2009 already indicated populations of some large mammals were declining but this study was based on research of only seven species over a 15-year period. Scientists have now looked at data of 12 species of large mammals from aerial monitoring since 1977.

Kari Mutu, Sales Manager Great Plains Conservation, says there has definitely been a decline in wildlife. She mentions the major reasons for this include drought, population pressure, tourism overdevelopment and political mismanagement.

Tourism overdevelopment is a worrying factor, says Mutu. “Fifty years ago there was one lodge, now there are 150 camps and lodges with more being licensed. Visitor numbers are increasing year on year. Experts agree this is having an adverse effect on the environment, and it’s certainly impacting the natural behaviour of wildlife in terms of feeding, hunting and birthing.”

Mutu explains political mismanagement is another important factor. “A management plan was formulated many years ago with good recommendations for wildlife management, environmental conservation and tourism development. But the plan has not been endorsed, and this remains a major stumbling block in securing the long-term survival of the game reserve.”

The declining number of wildlife could spell the end of the hugely popular wildebeest migration, according to scientists. Mutu admits: “It is entirely possible that the migration could end. After all, millions of animals don’t trek through hundreds of miles for the sheer joy of it but to survive. If the Mara ecosystem dies off, so then will thousands of herbivores and the predators that rely on them.”

Jake Grieves-Cook, MD Gamewatchers Safaris, says we should look at the numbers in perspective though. He explains the decline refers to the entire Mara eco-system and not just the Mara Reserve. He says: “Within the whole eco-system, there has been habitat loss due to human settlement and farming in some areas which are no longer available for wildlife, so in those areas the numbers have fallen by up to 100% but in other areas numbers have increased.”

Both Mutu and Grieves-Cook say there is light at the end of the tunnel. They say the conservancies in the area are reversing the declining wildlife trend. Conservancies are under the ownership and management of private individuals or non-state organisations. The conservancies operate high quality, low-volume tourism to ensure minimal impact on the environment. Mutu says: “Most of the Mara conservancies are less than 10 years old but are already showing great results. Olare Orok Conservancy, for example, now has one of the highest densities of big cats in Kenya.”

Sandy Wood, MD Pulse Africa, is optimistic about the future of the Masai Mara. She says the declining wildlife has not impacted on tourism so far and says the rhino population is even on the increase. “The end of the Masai Mara – I don’t think so.”

Sourced via Tourism Update for ecoAfrica Travel.

Fuelled by demand for ivory from the Far East, elephant poaching is reaching record levels in northern Kenya. The most recent casualty was an elephant named Khadija, the last mature female elephant from the Swahili Ladies family in Samburu National Reserve.

Conservation group, Save the Elephants, said in a media statement: “Ironically, Khadija had been treated two weeks earlier for bullet wounds and had survived the attack. This time, she died as she hobbled near the river, with four fresh bullets in her body. By midnight, her tusks had been cut out and the collar she was wearing had been destroyed and buried in the sand.” She leaves behind eight orphans.

While arrests are being made by rangers of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Save the Elephants says often the sentence is minimal and poachers are back in the bush within 48 hours.

A report recently released by Save the Elephants warns that during the first five months of 2011, poaching of elephants in the Samburu/Buffalo Springs region has reached an all-time high, the highest recorded in the last 10 years. The report also shows that 14% of the social groups do not contain a breeding female over the age of 25 years and comprised multiple orphan calves. With many of the large bulls poached, the elephant population is now 70% female.

“In the first six months of this year, rates of illegal elephant killing on the south near Buffalo Springs Reserve has reached new record levels,” said Founder of Save the Elephants, Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton. “Samburu has been a success story where elephants have been recovering from the excessive poaching of the 1970s and 1980s right up until 2008. It has been one of Africa’s few safe havens for elephants thanks to KWS law enforcement. However, the new poaching spike, driven by new demand, is threatening one of the most peaceful elephant populations in Africa with highly habituated trusting animals.”

Save the Elephants, the Northern Rangelands Trust and KWS are uniting to provide more resources on the ground to protect elephants and other wildlife.

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