http://wildlifenews.co.uk/2015...hino-moved-to-texas/



Why does the American hunt industry want 1,000 rhino moved to Texas?


Posted on May 6, 2015 by Kevin Heath



The Exotic Wildlife Association are working with a company called groupelephant.com to negotiate the translocation of 1,000 rhino orphans from South Africa to the game ranches of Texas. The question that needs to be raised is why? What need is there for a major exodus of rhino from South Africa to the United States.

There is no need for the equivalent of 5% of South Africa’s rhino population to be moved to Texas. South Africa has substantial experience of breeding rhinos and until recent years have been very effective at increasing the rhino population.

There is a current issue with poaching but that needs to be dealt with in South Africa and substantial pressure needs to be placed on Vietnam to deal with the consumer demand in the country. What is not needed is for 1,000 rhino’s to be shipped to game and hunting ranches in Texas.

So, who are the Exotic Wildlife Association and do they have the resources and skills to look after and protect 1000 young rhino if the deal with South Africa goes through?

The Exotic Wildlife Association represents the views of the game and hunting ranches of the United States. Their byline is “Promoting Conservation through Commerce” and their conservation partners include the likes of the Dallas Safari Club, Houston Safari Club and the International Professional Hunters Association.

Their mission statement is to:

Protect the rights of private property owners, including, but not limited to, the right to manage and control their own land and the indigenous and non-indigenous hoofstock animals living on it;
Defend the owners of indigenous and non-indigenous hoofstock animals against the misrepresentations and false allegations of animal rights activists;
Articulate the need for “sustainable utilization’ of wildlife, as a viable tool to maintain proper “carrying capacity” on private property.
Educate policy-makers, the media and the public through research and advocacy;
Foster development of the alternative livestock industry through agricultural diversification into production and marketing;
Promote “Conservation through commerce”;
Provide technical support and useful information to our Members, so as to benefit them, their animals, and their industry.
It is an organisation that believes in the utilization of wildlife to support conservation measures. So they obviously see some sort of income that can be derived from importing a large herd of rhino. What role the rhino will play in the profits of the game ranches is not yet known.



In an interview with local media Charly Seale, executive director of the Exotic Wildlife Association, said “These animals will never be in commerce, they will not be sold, they will not be hunted.” He said that the aim of the programme if granted by the US and South African officials will be to protect and propagate the species.

The rhinos will be bought into the US and put in quarantine. Any ranches that want to have a rhino will be thoroughly checked and they would need to build a special facility for them.

This all sounds very good – expensive and unnecessary – but good-hearted. What sort of experience does the Exotic Wildlife Association have with breeding and managing endangered species. It when we start to look at previous activities of the Exotic Wildlife Association (EWA) that alarm bells may start to sound.

The EWA do not like being monitored, they are against government legislation put in place to protect endangered species and questions have to be raised about their willingness to work with officials once the rhinos are in their procession.

The EWA fought for years through the courts to retain the rights to hunt endangered antelope species that the game ranches were breeding. When the three species: scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah), addax (Addax nasomaculatus) and dama gazelle (Nanger dama) – all critically endangered African antelope species – was added to the Endangered Species Act in 2005 the ranches were given exemption from the ban on hunting because of the captive breeding and conservation work on the populations.

The blanket exemption clause was challenged by some conservationists and after a number of years going through the courts the decision was made in 2012 that ‘blanket exemptions’ to hunting went against the spirit of the Endangered Species Act. The result was for the game ranches to continue with their hunting they had to apply for a $200 five-year captive breeding licence and a $100 annual culling licence.

With hunters paying $5000 a kill on the antelopes the cost to the game ranches would have been minimal and you would expect the ranches to just pay up and continue as normal. But thy did not and here lies the problem as we see the attitude of the EWA and its members.

In a Scientific American blog on the issue one ranger said, “Since we can’t hunt and eat them anymore, the ranch I work on will now be forced to stop its breeding program and exterminate the remaining stock as feral pests.”

So rather than pay $200 every 5 years the ranchers would rather kill off their stocks of critically-endangered species which itself would be against the law.

The attitude of the EWA is clearly summed up by Charly Seale in the interview, “Ranchers in this country are very private-property individuals,” Seale told McClatchy Newspapers. “We bought the animals with our own money and they’re telling us what to do with them. They are not anybody’s animals but ours.”

So here we have a real problem. Currently the 1000 rhinos are in sanctuaries in South Africa, a country with strong laws to protect the rhino and with a concerted international effort to protect the rhino. They have substantial experience of breeding and managing rhino populations. More importantly the eyes of the world are on the plight of the populations and where there is considerable teamwork between different agencies.

The fear is these 1000 rhino could be moved to a ranch in the outback or Texas, out of sight of the world to be managed by ranchers who are antagonistic to even minor changes in regulations, probably against independent inspections or monitring and who believe that once they buy the rhinos then the rhinos are theirs to do with how they wish without interference of authorities.

This second option may not be the best option for the rhino.

I guess that as the vote for allowing a regulated trade in rhino horn gets closer and the size of the potential market becomes known there is going to be an increasing rush to get in early by speculators and investors.

Is the potential trade in rhino horn the reason for the EWA wanting to have such a large herd shipped over to Texas? Who knows but it would certainly fit in with their organisations ethos of conservation through commerce.

While Seale has said that the rhinos will not be hunted will this also include the non-lethal ‘green’ hunt using tranquilisers. This method of hunting was banned in South Africa after studies showed that darting with tranquilisers unnecessarily caused high levels of stress to the rhino and increased the risk of death if the dart was badly landed and if the rhino collapsed in a poor position.

Unfortunately the ‘green’ hunt is back on the cards to be made legal if South Africa wins its possible argument on a trade in rhino horn as a supplemental form of income for rhino ranchers.

The other question is does the US have sufficient laws in place to protect the rhino once they arrive on American soil. The United States are one of the leading nations in protecting the rhino but the legislation revolves around international trade and action not a domestic market. The US does not have a substantial rhino herd at the moment that will change if this proposal goes through and adequate protection needs to be in place before the move.

quote:

Why does the American hunt industry want 1,000 rhino moved to Texas?

Simple answer to this one---MONEY!!!

I have no idea, but I am willing to bet two things are certain.

Rhinos will not become extinct in Texas and they WILL ANYWHERE in Africa.

Rhinos will never be hunted in Texas.

Texas/America provides the ONLY safe place for Rhinos on this planet.

What is it going to take, seeing the last Rhino in Africa poached for people to understand that there might have been a Better Option.

Texas ranches/ranchers are the Last - Best hope for preservation of the species, Africa proves daily that it can not control the situation and insure the continued existence of the species.

Or is this a case similar to one the Sierra Club made concerning the movement of California Condors into captivity to save the species.

They argued that it would be better if the species disappeared than waste the time moving them to save them.

Which is more important in the overall scheme of things, keeping Rhinos as a living species on the planet or letting them all be poached out existence so people can stand around complaining about a tradition the major country involved is totally unwilling to stop.

I am sorry for coming off so strongly on this, but there are two clear choices. One will mean that rhinos will survive and at some future date stock will be available to be returned to its native habitat, the other will mean that at some point in the not too distant future, YOU Will be making a post on this site lamenting the death of the last rhino in Africa.

Do you really want to do that and do you really thing ANY African country is capable of stopping the poaching of Rhino's?

1. we have viagra and cialis and levitra, so we won't have our erectile functionally challenged old guys having them poached for their horns...

2. our blacks and other minorities don't have any desire to kill them just because they want the game reserves for farmland.

3. majority rule Africa will not be happy until every animal on the continent is slaughtered for food. Then they can start asking the rest of the world for handouts.

Give me a few minutes and I'll think of a few more...

We seem to be lumping all rhinos under one label. But in fact there are two distinct types: the white which is supposd to be rather placid, and the black which is supposed to be rather aggressive. Also, I nderstand that the whte is doing well enough hat there is a thriving "enclosure rhino hunting" business going on. The black is teetering on extinction.

This is a great idea. Wasn't it Texans who brought the Scimtar Horned Oryx and other species to Texas that are endangered in their home countries? They can reintroduce the rhinos to Africa in the future.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
We seem to be lumping all rhinos under one label. But in fact there are two distinct types: ....

There are two types African rhinos but there are also three types of Asian rhinos. The Asian rhinos include the Indian Rhinoceros, a larger variety than the Black Rhinoceros. If rhinos are to be introduced to USA for hunting then I think it should be the Indian variety.

quote:

In most adults, the horn reaches a length of about 25 cm (9.8 in), but has been recorded up to 57.2 cm (22.5 in) in length.

Among terrestrial land mammals native to Asia, the Indian rhinoceros is second in size only to the Asian elephant. It is also the second-largest living rhinoceros, behind only the white rhinoceros. Males have an average head and body length of 368–380 cm (12.07–12.47 ft) with a shoulder height of 170–186 cm (5.58–6.10 ft), while females have an average head and body length of 310–340 cm (10.2–11.2 ft) and a shoulder height of 148–173 cm (4.86–5.68 ft). The male, averaging 2,200 kg (4,900 lb) is heavier than the female, at an average of 1,600 kg (3,500 lb).

The largest sized specimens range up to 4,000 kg (8,800 lb)

quote:

This is a great idea. Wasn't it Texans who brought the Scimtar Horned Oryx and other species to Texas that are endangered in their home countries? They can reintroduce the rhinos to Africa in the future.

At least someone has an actual grasp on the situation.

None of the Asian species would do good here in Texas, they have totally different life requirements than the African species.

A Rhino is not necessarily a Rhino. Food and habitat requirements are completely different. As with many or most of the African antelope species, the Texas climate is more like Africa than it is India/Nepal/Southeast Asia.

The World and everyone in it that cares about having species like the African Rhinos survive into the 22nd. century, OTHER than just a few aging captive specimens confined to zoos, needs to get their act together and put aside petty personal prejudices.

The countries in Africa and the various organizations in situ there have proven, that they can not keep rhinos from being poached.

The World as a whole can not put enough pressure of ANY kind on China and other Asian countries to bring the poaching of Rhinos and Elephants to a halt.

Wouldn't it be better for humans in general to move Rhinos into conditions where they can be protected/can reproduce and at some point if enlightenment ever reaches the Chinese, there will be rhinos to be returned to their native habitat.

Otherwise, the generations that follow us will look back in shame over not doing EVERYTHING that could be done to save these unique life forms.

Its a brilliant idea!

The Oryx introduction, along with other endangered species abroad (imported to Texas), was exactly what I was thinking. Texan's managing these animals would only BENEFIT the species!

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
None of the Asian species would do good here in Texas...

The Indian rhinoceros shares habitat with the nilgai. The king ranch has about 10,000 nilgai. Wild populations of nilgai are now found in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Texas, with about 30,000 along the Texas Mexico border region. There is no reason that the Indian rhinos couldn't be established in the southern USA, including parts of Texas. Who knows, they might even like to eat kudzu!

Indian Rhinoceros

Yes, they do, they also live in Nepal.

While it was not one of my regular duties I did spend a while during my 25 years at the Fort Worth Zoo working with Rhinos, Whites/Blacks and Asians.

All the Asian species are more of a Swamp Dweller than the African species, with the Sumatrans being almost semiaquatic.

Notice, where in Texas Nilgai do best, along the coast, they don't do quite as well in drier areas of the state.

Blacks and whites do better in areas more closely resembling their native habitat.

Crazy:

Not to defer from this thread but you must have had a very interesting job. I am sure it was a good experience to work with animals from all areas of the world.

Yes Sir it was. One thing it did teach me, is that while zoos can be a repository for various species of wildlife and used as a "Teaching Tool", any species that can be saved from extinction by whatever viable means available deserves that chance.

Every species the Earth loses just marks one step closer to our own extinction.

Texas, as you well know Crazy, has different habitats. Texas has eleven ecological regions and though they wouldn't all suit the Indian rhinoceros, some of them would be very suitable. Indian rhinos like and need water but, unlike the other two Asian species, they don't need swamps. Swamps in Texas? Of course, or how would the gators get by?

I'm a Texas rancher. I've seen black rhinos. I've seen white rhinos. What I haven't seen is a fence (at least not one enclosing more than five acres or so) which will hold either of them when they decide to go for a walkabout.

Good idea or poor idea, ain't gonna happen.

Let's see....in Texas.

There are more Axis deer than in their native India, and they are thriving.

More Blackbuck Antelope, thriving as well.

More Nilgai, also thriving.

There are more Dama gazell, than in their native Africa.

More Scimitar Horned Oryx.

More Addax.

Why? Because on a Texas Ranch they have more value as hunting trophies.....

If it would work for Rinos, I am all for it.


.

Grenadier, all I am pointing out is that Texas is better suited to the African Rhino's than any of the Asians.

One question for you, how many of ANY of the three Asian species are being poached when compared to the African species?

CHC, you have brought thought and an educated opinion to this topic. Thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
I'm a Texas rancher. I've seen black rhinos. I've seen white rhinos. What I haven't seen is a fence (at least not one enclosing more than five acres or so) which will hold either of them when they decide to go for a walkabout.

Good idea or poor idea, ain't gonna happen.

More or less what I was thinking, bison fences are hard enough...

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
One question for you, how many of ANY of the three Asian species are being poached when compared to the African species?

quote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhino_poaching_in_Assam:
Rhino poaching in Assam is one of the major environmental issues in India which continues in the region of Kaziranga National Park, Manas National Park and some other grasslands of Assam. The one horn rhino or Indian rhino is surviving in the north-east corner of India, Assam. Kaziranga National Park, Pobitora in Marigaon district and Orang National Park in Darrang district of Assam account almost 95% of the total wild One horned rhino in the world....
Poaching for rhinoceros horn became the single most important reason for the decline of the Indian rhino after conservation measures were put in place from the beginning of the 20th century, when legal hunting ended. From 1980 to 1993, 692 rhinos were poached in India. In India's Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary 41 rhinos were killed in 1983, virtually the entire population of the sanctuary. By the mid-1990s, poaching had rendered the species extinct there...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_rhinoceros:
The Indian rhinoceros once ranged throughout the entire stretch of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, but excessive hunting reduced their range drastically. Today, more than 3,000 rhinos live in the wild. In 2014, 2,544 of which are found in India's Assam alone, an increase by 27 percent since 2006, although in early the 1900s, Assam had about 200 rhinos only...

There are only ~3000 in the wild. The most effective anti-poaching measure has been de-horning.

Why not import both the black and the Indian?

Working with both or all would be fine as far as I am concerned.

There are specialized problems concerning the Asians that do not really affect the African species.

Among them is the basic breeding biology of the Asians.

Also, even though poaching of the Asians does occur, as is pointed out in one of the articles you posted, the Indian One Horn has increased in numbers.

Such is not the case for either of the African species.

The basic scenario is that the various African countries simply can not the poachers, China can not/will not make a real effort to educate their citizens or implement measures to shut down the importation of Ivory and Rhino horn.

With Rhinos being poached at the rate they are, which results in fewer calves surviving or even being born, that merely accelerates the clock ticking toward the species eventual extinction if drastic measures are not taken ASAP.

In the end everyone that cares about the species in any manner has to ask themselves, Do we do EVERYTHING possible to save the species, or do we simply set back and wait for the inevitable?

Personally, I would hate to know that the only African Rhinos left in the world were a few geriatric specimens in zoos and dusty mounts in museum cases.

I am beginning to believe the objection some are raising concerning moving the remaining animals to ranches in Texas is the stigma of Texas and how hunting is conducted here.

I have doubts that anyone suggesting the operation has ulterior motives of having Rhino's of either species, be the next Axis or Black buck and offering 3 Day Guided Hunts for Rowland & Ward class bulls.

quote:

More or less what I was thinking, bison fences are hard enough...

Just curious Tom, how much Bison/Buffalo experience have you had?

Don't take my question wrong, I have had some experience myself and I like comparing notes with others that have worked with the animals.

Straight from the nut job head of HSUS during the 60 Minutes piece on TX exotics: She would rather the oryx become extinct than thrive in TX. This is what sensible people are up against.

CHC....nice job on this topic.

My only concern would be displacement of North American species if catastrophic failure of containment occurred.

quote:

My only concern would be displacement of North American species if catastrophic failure of containment occurred.

That is a very real and valid concern. Unlike Black Buck/Aoudad/Axis or Nilgai, rhinos won't breed themselves into pest status in just a few years.

As a potential danger to humans encountering an escaped rhino, whether on foot/horse back or a pick up on a Farm Road on a Dark Night, that is a real concern.

The deal is ranches in Texas have been working with rhinos off and on for a couple of decades now in conjunction with various zoos.

They are pretty up to date on facilities/handling/breeding all the issues concerning working with any type of wildlife in a captive environment.

Various zoos around the country have been working with private ranchers for years with various species of wildlife, simply because zoos changed their philosophy decades back when the concept of going to a foreign country and taking animal from the wild for display became outlawed.

They had to reach out to other avenues to keep viable breeding populations of most species and due to the work ranchers, especially Texas ranchers, had done with various forms of African/Asian hoof stock, that is who they turned too and it has worked in most cases.

My question to Tom is not being asked in a smart ass manner, because Bison do have the potential to be dangerous and hard to contain. However the vast majority of the "Problems" can be and are alleviated when properly trained and competent staff work with the animals on a daily basis.

For these type programs to work and be successful it is not going to be a case of going to Africa darting the animals, putting them in a crate, then putting the crate on a plane, flying them to San Antonio, hauling the crates tot he ranch and turning the rhinos out in the pasture patting them on the rump and driving off to let nature take its course.

From past experiences, the folks expressing interest in this are dedicated and sincere.

I say bring them in.The fact is Black Africans screw up everything they touch.They will poach them to extinction and not think twice about it.

LEDVM and I have discussed this at length over a couple of years--Scientifically its very possible and the rhinos would be MUCH safer.

That said the political side of the equation would be a night mare.

Just think of all the mesquite and wesattche they could eat.

South, Central and west texas are all prime habitat for both Black and White Rhino.

I personally would love to see hippo in East texas and Louisiana also.

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:

quote:

More or less what I was thinking, bison fences are hard enough...

Just curious Tom, how much Bison/Buffalo experience have you had?

Don't take my question wrong, I have had some experience myself and I like comparing notes with others that have worked with the animals.

Most of Ted Turners Bison properties are fenced with cattle fence and Hot wire--seems to work well.

That said there is little comparison between a Rhino and a bison.

quote:

Originally posted by Sean Russell:


I personally would love to see hippo in East texas and Louisiana also.

I would love to see hippo, elephant, and buffalo in the Atchafalaya basin. Let them free range. Maybe even a leopard or two. It will never happen, but we could always dream.....

To the best of my knowledge, Hippos are NOT endangered, Rhino's are.

My employers Bison/Buffalo are kept inside a regular barb wire fence.

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:

quote:

More or less what I was thinking, bison fences are hard enough...

Just curious Tom, how much Bison/Buffalo experience have you had?

Don't take my question wrong, I have had some experience myself and I like comparing notes with others that have worked with the animals.

Zero personal experience. I have seen the fences used in Star Valley, another one at Evanston's rest area (not much of a fence), and read now and then about the ones used in South Dakota (substantial and sometimes still not enough). From all hearsay evidence, when they want to leave it's real hard to keep them in.

Thank You.

Normally from my dealings with them, if they do decide to go, they will, either thru or over.

Usually however it takes some out of the ordinary happening to get them to do that.

Cattle can and will do the same thing if something out of the ordinary takes place.

From my experiences, I would rather work Bison than cattle.

As for the Rhinos, as I stated elsewhere, some ranches here in Texas already have experience working with Rhinos in conjunction with various zoos.

They know the requirements for enclosures to keep the rhinos contained. I believe the questions/objections center around peoples beliefs that some individuals are simply wanting to attempt to set up a new type of hunting operation, which is not the case.

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
To the best of my knowledge, Hippos are NOT endangered, Rhino's are.

My employers Bison/Buffalo are kept inside a regular barb wire fence.

Randal

Well aware that hippo aren't endangered--but they sure would be fun to have back in the swamps. Something dent have to be endangered to be interesting.

That said, as I pointed out the problems are mostly political with doing anything like any of this.

Interesting discussion guys and nice to hear accurate information on this from CHC that he gained from his previous job!

quote:

Well aware that hippo aren't endangered--but they sure would be fun to have back in the swamps.

Well, we had received two young hippos at Fort Worth back in the mid-1980's.

One of them got sick and in spite of the best efforts of the vet staff, died.

Six of us eased our way into their holding area and one guy got a rope on the dead one, it was floating in their pool, and as we started pulling on it to get it out of there, the other one, about 900 to 1000 pounds of pissed off hippo, played Jesus Christ and came running across the top of the water at us and we vacated the building.

Hippos along with apes/monkeys were about the only critters I had no desire to work around.

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
We seem to be lumping all rhinos under one label. But in fact there are two distinct types: the white which is supposd to be rather placid, and the black which is supposed to be rather aggressive. Also, I nderstand that the whte is doing well enough hat there is a thriving "enclosure rhino hunting" business going on. The black is teetering on extinction.

I wish I had known that when my white rhino almost ran me over in full charge.

It boils down to one single/simple concept.

Either do what is necessary to save the specie(s), or let them be exterminated, there is No middle ground.

Eve if they do get loose I can't see them wandering north into Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska

quote:

Originally posted by Allan DeGroot:
Eve if they do get loose I can't see them wandering north into Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska

Agreed. They would never get past the Dallas traffic.

quote:

So here we have a real problem. Currently the 1000 rhinos are in sanctuaries in South Africa, a country with strong laws to protect the rhino and with a concerted international effort to protect the rhino

I just wonder how South Africa is "protecting" rhinos with all the poaching that is rampant there??

Whatever is happening in Africa to protect rhinos is obviously not working. I don't know if Texas is the answer, but something different needs to be tried.