Besides claims that the process of selling the rhino for hunting purposes was and is illegal as the correct procedures were not followed, one has to wonder how an agency that is charged with protecting and conserving species, species under siege on top of it, can consider selling them to hunters. And Vietnamese hunters at that. It is not hard to imagine that given the links between poachers and the Far Eastern markets for rhino horn, that this was a wonderful opportunity to “launder” poached horn. Recently too, members of the Vietnamese embassy were implicated in poaching and smuggling rhino horn by the excellent 50/50 conservation TV show. The hunting option was preferred to translocation, even to a neighbouring private reserve that made an offer.

Furthermore, it has always been anathema, as far as I know, to permit commercial hunting in any national park or provincial nature reserve. It is contrary to the ethos of conservation not to mention contrary to the legislation that governs protected areas, I would think.

With protectors like this, who needs poachers.

It is claimed that besides those being poached, about 300 have been shot for the trade. Should hunting for the trade not cease, the NGOs will approach CITES to upgrade rhino to Schedule 1, effectively banning legal hunting of the species.

Personally, I cannot get my head around why anyone would want to shoot a rhino – or any animal for sport for that matter. Although hunting proponents will often trumpet the sport’s “indispensable” contribution to the financing of conservation, this practice flies in the face of all such claims. It is a despicable practice and is driven by greed.

WESSA also states that rhino poached in Zimbabwe are being “laundered” by South African landowners and outfitters.

EcoAfrica does not promote hunting. But do note that there is a hunting operation that uses our name, despite it being a registered trademark. I suppose that speaks volumes for the ethics involved. We never have, and never will have anything to do with hunting.

White rhino in Kruger National Park, South Africa

The Times reports that:

The number of rhinos poached within SA National Parks’ land increased by nearly 300% in 2008 (36 rhinos) compared with 2007 (10 rhinos);

An estimated 50 rhinos were poached on private game reserves in 2008 ; and

Thirteen rhinos were shot dead on Christmas Day last year, including six on a private reserve in North West.

(Ignore the comments below The Times report – they are indicative of the mindset of disaffected locals who unfortunately have the time to pollute blogs)

Rhino have been to the brink and back before. When the Imfolozi reserve was proclaimed in 1895 it was the last refuge of the southern white rhino, estimated to be as few as 20 in number. Colonial hunters had shot them out throughout southern Africa. Thanks to the efforts Ian Player and those of his ilk there are now some 14500 white rhinos and 4000 black rhinos in the wild (consider however that there were 100 000 black rhino in the wild in the 1960s).

Through successful translocation programmes they have been distributed across southern Africa in national parks, game reserves and private reserves. The black subspecies is still Critically Endangered while the white rhino is classified as “Lower Risk – Conservation Dependent”. Our Kruger National Park Google Earth layer contains a wildlife census layer which shows some interesting distributions of rhino.

The Times story advances various reasons for the increase in poaching, but most worrying is the apparent lack of protection in formal protected areas such as national parks. SANP and agencies such as Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife need to urgently step up their anti-poaching patrols and look to the integrity of their parks and reserves. But perversely it may be the successful translocation of the animals to private reserves that increases vulnerability, as these protected areas are widely dispersed islands of conservation and will often not have the resources to mount effective anti-poaching operations.

Ralph Pina is one of ecoAfrica.com’s founders