Rhino beat foot-and-mouth bullet


Pietermaritzburg - Rhino may be targets of horn-hungry poachers' bullets but they will be the survivors at the annual game auctions later this year when they go under the hammer and head for new lives.

This is unlike 200 nyala which may not leave the northern KwaZulu-Natal area demarcated a foot-and-mouth zone as they are cloven-hoofed.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife vet Dave Cooper said a good rhino female could fetch a price of around R200 000, which is half the best price ever when the prized item was a calf.

"Because of the poaching threat, we're expecting lower prices," he said.

The absent nyala would have been worth R800 000 for the provincial wildlife authority at the auctions on June 3.

Counting their losses

Farmers were lamenting their losses for the March to October season during which game is transported.

A very limited market would buy their animals - both game and cattle -within the restricted area.

Farmer PJ Hazard forecast that 18 game and cattle farmers around him could be in for a loss of R16m in income during the year ahead.

He expected to do well selling weaner cattle in June and July to buyers beyond the roadblocks that police the movement of livestock.

"No way are my neighbours going to buy them," he said.

2-3 years before normality

With business at home grinding to a standstill, local game capturer Grant Tracey is heading elsewhere - far away from the outbreak - to game farms in the Eastern Cape.

"Many people don't seem to realise what this outbreak entails, that it will be two to three years before things are normal again."

Should livestock be vaccinated, the restrictions on movement would still be in place because they would test positive to foot-and-mouth and also have to end their lives in local slaughter houses.

When the cattle are considered clear of foot-and-mouth, cloven-hoofed game, which would be difficult to vaccinate, would also be considered clear.

But surviving rhino will go soldiering on, from annual auction to annual auction and venturing into habitats far from northern KwaZulu-Natal.
- SAPA