South Africa: Rhino poachers 'aren't scared'



Nicolize van der Walt and Fanie van Rooyen, Beeld

Hartbeesfontein - Poachers shot and killed three rhinos and seriously wounded another two in two separate incidents over the weekend. One poacher was wounded.

Two rhinos were killed and two wounded on the luxury guest farm Shingalana, a lion and rhino reserve about 21km from Hartbeespoort.

The first carcass they found was their breeding bull. The animal's horn had been cut out.

The bull's Achilles tendons had been cut and his eyes were gouged out.

Feel unsafe

On Sunday morning a dead rhino cow without a horn was found in the veld, a stone's throw from the guest lodge.

"Another two cows were injured. One of them had had a shot or a blow to the hind quarters and the other one was shot twice, once through her chin and once through the shoulder. We're waiting for a vet from Rustenburg to advise us as to whether the animals should be euthanised," Rina Jacobs from Shingalana said on Sunday.

Kobus Jacobs and his wife say they feel unsafe on their farm.

"These poachers aren't afraid of us. They come here and poach while we're at home. We're scared. We always thought stock thieves and poachers would rather give us a miss because there are often guests on the farm," said Rina.

She said they heard a gunshot on Friday night while they were entertaining tourists in the boma.

"It was dark and I asked everyone not to go looking for the problem.

"We searched all of Saturday but found nothing."

Kobus said once they had realised the full extent of the events, they were shocked. Now they're just despondent.

"You spend your whole life building something... I don't know why they don't just legalise and regulate hunting for rhino horn.

"Then, I believe, the animals might at least be spared. It (the poaching) is so incredibly cruel," he said.

The couple - who also have lions, buffalo, camels, various antelope species and other animals - lost another rhino cow on October 18.

"They absolutely only target the rhinos, and that's just for their horns. Not one piece of meat is taken so people might think they were hungry or something."

Poacher shot

The fourth rhino was killed on a farm between Mookgophong (Naboomspruit) and Modimolle (Nylstroom) at the weekend.

Police officials and a task team against poaching on Saturday shot one of the poachers involved in this incident in the hip. He was arrested and later treated by paramedics.

The task team spent 18 hours searching for the rest of his group.

Police spokesperson Ronel Otto said this incident started at about 05:00 on Saturday.

"The owner of the farm and some of his workers were on patrol on the farm when they heard gunshots," she said.

"They found the dead rhino without its horn and called the police."


- Beeld


Cheers,

~ Alan

Maybe if they cut the achilles tendons and gouged out the eyes of a couple of poachers, they'd get the message.

Use Enough Gun,

Great comment, LOL.

You know I had the same thoughts when I read this article.

A little 'eye for an eye' as it were, African style!

Cheers,

~ Alan

PUT A BOUNTY ON POACHERS I COULD MAKE A FORTUNE I would even bring my own ammo

I'm still convinced the only long term answer is to sell the Chinese and other relevant countries a bunch of rhino (or whatever species) and let them farm and even genetically modify them for improved horn growth.

If this poaching doesn't stop soon, I reckon CITES will stop issuing sport hunting quota.

I applaud your search for the solution, but they could never farm rhino for as cheap as they can buy poached horns - at least until the stocks get too low to poach.

quote:

Originally posted by Acer:
I applaud your search for the solution, but they could never farm rhino for as cheap as they can buy poached horns - at least until the stocks get too low to poach.

I reckon they could.

The price of poached horn will only ever to go up, whereas the price of farmed horn, esp genetically altered farm horn will almost certainly go down......... but more importantly, availability will always get easier with farmed horn but will always get harder with poached horn.

Mind you....... I know bugger all about the market so could be completely wrong.

Have they tried selling a synthetic substitute?

They do something like that with methadone don't they? Afterall, this whole thing sounds to me exactly like the drug problem. There's really no practical difference except in the demise of the source.

I mean, you've got a demand side that won't quit no matter what, which is the same. Or even if it did quit thru education or whatever, it'd be way too late for the rhinos. And, you've got a supply side that obviously won't quit either no matter what, until the rhinos are gone. And, whatever powers that be obviously don't have the stomach for drastic penalties, like executing rhino dealers the way some places do drug dealers.

So, there are no options except heavily subsidized farming, or synthetics.

Another article that Kathi posted brings up a valid argument inherent with farming rhinos. There is a belief that wild rhino horn works better than farmed. There will always be a wealthy individual willing to pay a premium for wild rhino.

I agree that farming rhinos could help curve poaching, but it needs to be done in conjunction with harsher punishment for poachers. Now, something I learned a long time ago is the only way to prevent something is to have a 100% conviction rate. If there is even a 1% chance you might not get caught, there will be someone who the benefits out-way the risk. Getting a 100% conviction, in Africa, seems near impossible. In that case, seems the only viable alternative is to get so drastic with punishment combined that the risk factor increases. Go medieval on them. Shoot every poacher on sight and put their head on a stick in the middle of town.

ddrhook's idea of a bounty seems good, but, knowing Africa, everyone's going to be shooting their neighbor claiming they're a poacher to make a buck.

It's a horrible situation to have, and Africa doesn't make it any better.

quote:

Originally posted by Sevens:
Go medieval on them. Shoot every poacher on sight

Mate, they've been doing that for decades. Rule .303 is nothing new in Africa.

The problem is that when a man is watching his family starve and knows he can feed them for 2 or 3 years by shooting 1 or 2 rhino, he's going to be understandably tempted.

The way to stop it is to shoot the men in the middle and at the top....... and one of the major problems with that is a good many of them have diplomatic immunity.

Why don't we just give the users of rhino horn free Viagra? Or better yet, sell it to them.

I think the solution is to poison rhino horn, tiger bone etc and release quantities in various markets around the world over a period of 3 to 6 months & then do it every 3 to 6 months again for a few years. Word will get around quickly that contraband product is now poisoned and that it is very difficult to get genuine product. While this might put up prices initially, word will also get around that the product used in the indigenous "snake oil" medicines can kill or hurt you and demand will drop. Even better is to make people impotent because people tend to fear losing their "manhood" more than their lives!! The cycle needs to be broken for a generation - say 20 to 25 years - before the belief system will change at the community & culture level.

The Dalai Lama's assistance in persuading the Tibetan monks to burn tiger skins & stop using it for ceremonial clothing was a huge help. One tiger was enough for just 2 robes but the bones were enough for a lot more of the "medicines".

How can we start the news on the internet that more & more Rhino horn & tiger bone is now being poisoned to make people impotent?

I am sure there are many influential people on this site who can help spread the news.

quote:

Originally posted by Shack:
Have they tried selling a synthetic substitute?

They do something like that with methadone don't they? Afterall, this whole thing sounds to me exactly like the drug problem. There's really no practical difference except in the demise of the source.

There is a huge difference between rhino horn and heroin. First, heroin actually works and more importantly methadone only works for the people who want to stop using opiates. I doubt anyone using rhino horn feels the need to "kick the habit".

quote:

Originally posted by Sevens:
Another article that Kathi posted brings up a valid argument inherent with farming rhinos. There is a belief that wild rhino horn works better than farmed. There will always be a wealthy individual willing to pay a premium for wild rhino. Once it reaches Thailand, how would anyone know if it came from South Africa or the Luangwa Valley?

Sorry, but once it is onto the black market how would the middlemen know that it is farmed(or wild)? Most all rhino horn on the market now is poached from farms.