Release of rhino poachers exposes widespread enforcement failures
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Posted on 02 March 2010

Gland, Switzerland - The release of six alleged rhino poachers from custody
two weeks before a meeting of the largest wildlife trade convention is
emblematic of the chronic lack of political will to enact enforcement
efforts required to save this endangered species.

A Zimbabwean court last week granted bail to six men arrested at Bubye
Valley Conservancy, home to Zimbabwe's largest remaining rhino population,
in connection with rhino poaching. Charges included illegal possession of
firearms and illegal possession of a rhino horn.

The incident, part of a surge in rhino poaching in Zimbabwe and South
Africa, is made worse by a lack of enforcement support in Zimbabwe in
particular.

As 175 countries prepare to meet to for the 15th Conference of the Parties
to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP 15) in Doha, on March 13, the increased poaching
of rhinos and trade in rhino horns-compounded by failed enforcement
efforts-is threatening to undermine conservation successes to date.

Most rhinos are listed in the Convention's Appendix I, which bans trade in
their parts for commercial purposes. Countries participating in the CITES
convention have been tasked with combating illegal trade in rhino horn.

"Zimbabwe's failure to live up to its obligations to CITES is unacceptable
and has caused its already endangered rhino population to decline," said
Colman O'Criodain, Wildlife Trade Analyst, WWF International. "The time has
come for the CITES Parties collectively to decide how to address this
failure."

This incident, coming so soon after Zimbabwe was specifically urged by the
CITES Secretariat to tighten up its law enforcement to protect rhinos, will
reduce Zimbabwe's ability to defend its wildlife management policies at the
forthcoming CITES conference

Last year, rhino poaching worldwide hit a 15-year high due to increased
demand for rhino horn. A recent report by TRAFFIC and IUCN, the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature, showed that since 2006,
95 percent of the poaching in Africa has occurred in Zimbabwe and South
Africa. The report also showed that the conviction rate for rhino crimes in
Zimbabwe is only three percent.

WWF and TRAFFIC urge Zimbabwe, South Africa and all CITES Parties to uphold
the commitments they have made as signatories to the Convention and
dramatically improve law enforcement, including investigation of poaching
incidents and prosecution of rhino crimes.

"Rhino poachers are currently operating in an environment where they are
allowed to break the law without appropriate consequences," said Steven
Broad, Executive Director of TRAFFIC. "This kind of ineffective law
enforcement increasingly undermines the success of more than a decade's work
of bringing rhinoceros populations in southern Africa back up to healthy
levels."

Most rhino horns leaving southern Africa are destined for medicinal markets
in southeast and east Asia, especially Vietnam, where demand has escalated
in recent years.

same bullshit, different day. some things will never change as long as Uncle Bob runs the show. Zim wildlife authorities have been neutered for years by the military and their political connections.