Kenya rhino killing: 12 held
2010-01-04 18:02



Nairobi - Kenyan wildlife rangers arrested 12 men from an illicit game trade syndicate suspected of killing a 10-year-old white rhino and hacking off its horns, the head of the country's wildlife service said on Monday.

Rangers mounted a manhunt, arrested the suspects and recovered the horns after the female rhino was killed on December 28 on a private ranch in central Kenya.

"If we lose one rhino, as Kenya, that's a lot," wildlife chief Julius Kipng'etich told reporters.

The suspects were to be arraigned later Monday before a court in Nairobi's Kibera district, wildlife service spokesperson Paul Udoto said.

The east African country, which has the world's third largest rhino population - around 600 black and 300 white rhinos - suffered its worst year for rhino poaching in 2009, when 12 black and six white rhinos were killed.

Aphrodisiac myth

The illegal trade is driven by Asian and Middle Eastern demand for ivory used in traditional medicines for fevers, convulsions and as an aphrodisiac.

The horns mainly contain keratin - a substance also found in hooves, nails and hair - and Kipng'etich derided its use as an aphrodisiac.

"It is a myth. People think that it is an aphrodisiac.

"If you want a similar effect you could chew your nails or munch your hair."


- AFP

make the penalty "death by firing squad"
if caught killing or in possesion of rhino
parts. that would slow it down some

I heard a story several years ago that four or five Somali poachers were hanged from the same tree near the main entrance to Tsavo. Don't know if that's true or not, but it supposedly cut down on poaching for a while.

quote:

make the penalty "death by firing squad"
if caught killing or in possesion of rhino
parts. that would slow it down some

I made this comment a month ago and everyone said: "poor poachers...just trying to feed families...death penalty is unfair!"

I must just throw gasoline on fires! But I do think y'all are correct!!!

Kenya: Demand for Horns Fuels Poaching
Walter Menya
5 January 2010



Nairobi — Demand for rhino horns in Asia is behind the latest increase in poaching.

To fight the menace, Kenya has proposed amendments to the Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species (Cites) resolution on rhinos to place greater responsibility on countries where the horns are in high demand.

Rhino horns are prized as dagger handles and medicine in Yemen and Oman.

The proposed amendment comes up for debate at the Cites Conference of the Parties 15 (COP15) scheduled for March 13 to 25 in Doha, Qatar.

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) director Julius Kipng'etich says the horns follow the same routes as money laundering and drug trafficking to end up in Yemen and Oman, where demand is greatest.

Speaking at the KWS headquarters recently, Mr Kipng'etich said the horns are used in traditional Asian medicine to treat fevers and convulsions and as aphrodisiac, though scientific studies have found no medicinal properties in them.

The poachers are believed to exploit the lawlessness in Somalia to smuggle the products of the endangered species to Yemen, which is also grappling with rebels.

"These poachers use the same routes used by other international criminals," Mr Kipng'etich said.

He was speaking when he released the results of a rhino anti-poaching operation that netted 7.2 kilos of rhinoceros horns whose black market value is estimated at Sh2.2 million.

The officers also arrested 12 Kenyans and impounded four-wheel drive vehicle as well as Sh647,000 believed to be part of purchase money for the rhino horns.


The operation followed the killing of a female white rhino in Mugie rhino sanctuary, Laikipia West, on December 28.

Kenya is home to 240 white and 610 black rhinos, the third largest population in the world. There are 4,200 black and 17,500 white rhinos worldwide. Before the rampant poaching in the 1970s, Kenya had about 20,000 black rhinos.

Mr Kipng'etich reiterated Kenya's continued opposition to lifting of a ban on the trade in products of endangered species under Cites.

Tanzania and Zambia have become the latest to request the down-listing of their elephant population, but KWS is adamant that it would not support such an initiative.

quote:

Before the rampant poaching in the 1970s, Kenya had about 20,000 black rhinos.

That is such a shame. Nigel Theisen told me that in the 1980's the things were so dam thick in Chewore they were difficult to hunt buffalo around. You wer always getting chased by them.

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:

quote:

Before the rampant poaching in the 1970s, Kenya had about 20,000 black rhinos.

That is such a shame. Nigel Theisen told me that in the 1980's the things were so dam thick in Chewore they were difficult to hunt buffalo around. You wer always getting chased by them.

My dad and Roger Whittall told me the same about Chewore - one had to watch out for them all the time! Amazing.

Dave