Rhino Poaching 2017-2025

[Richprins]

There are a lot of government workers at all levels who take part in poaching, Lis, as the article says. The Department cannot admit that.

[Lisbeth]

They do not have to admit that only to do a serious and thruthful picture of the situation without trying to turn things around to make them look more positive, when this is not the case.

[Richprins]

Nearly 50 rhinos killed in Botswana in 10 months as poaching surges

Tuesday 25 February 2020 - 7:05am


GABORONE - At least 46 rhinos have been slaughtered in Botswana in 10 months, a government official said as the southern African wildlife haven reported a surge in poaching of the endangered species.

The killings -- slightly under 10 percent of Botswana's total rhino population -- have occurred in the northern Moremi Game Reserve since April last year.

"Poaching has risen at an alarming rate in this area," Moemi Batshabang, a deputy director with the government's wildlife department told AFP.



"I can attest that 46 rhinos have been killed by highly organised poachers between April last year to date," he said.

Botswana is home to 500 rhinos, according to international conservation charity, Save the Rhino.

They are a protected species in Botswana and fall outside the government's recent decision to end a five-year ban on trophy-hunting licences, which is largely targeted at the burgeoning elephant population.



Most of the rhinos roam the grassy plains of the northern Okavango Delta, where Moremi Game Reserve is situated.

"The increase in poaching of both the black and white rhino is of concern and unusual," said Batshabang.

The unprecedented rate of poaching last year prompted the government to warn that the rhino population could be wiped out in the southern African country by 2021.


Thousands of rhinos that once roamed Africa and Asia have been culled by poaching and habitat loss. Very few are found outside national parks and reserves.

Poaching is fuelled by a seemingly insatiable demand for rhino horn in Asia, where it is coveted as a traditional medicine or an aphrodisiac, and can fetch up to $60,000 per kilogramme.

Rhino horn is composed mainly of keratin, the same substance as in human nails.



Botswana's neighbour South Africa, home to 80 percent of the world's remaining rhinos and the epicentre of rhino poaching, lost 594 rhinos to poachers last year. The good news is that this marks a 23 percent drop from the previous year.

More than 7,100 animals have been slaughtered over the past decade.

There are fewer than 25,000 rhinos left in the wild in Africa due to a surge in poaching, and only 5,000 of them are black rhinos.
Source
AFP


https://www.enca.com/news/nearly-50-rhi ... ing-surges

[Alf]

There’s always a drop in poaching numbers because the rhinos are getting fewer

[Klipspringer]

Poaching stats again:

https://www.pressreader.com/south-afric ... 3264463935

Nothing new there

[yasirr]

The achievements are satisfactory. But this battle has to be fought on permanent basis. Poaching is millions of dollars worth business. Poachers will always try to take advantage whenever they get an opportunity.

[Klipspringer]

https://lowvelder.co.za/532331/generaal ... rwildtuin/

“Ek is twee jaar gelede deur Edna Molewa, die destydse minister van omgewingsake, gevra om ‘n nuwe strategie te ontwikkel.

“Die program is nou gereed om geïmplementeer te word. Dit is geskoei daarop om beter en meer gekoördineerde samewerking te bewerkstellig tussen alle natuurparke – nasionaal, provinsiaal, munisipaal en in die privaatsektor,” sê Jooste.

Die nuwe strategie, wat steeds ‘n hooffokus op die stryd teen renoster-, en deesdae ook olifantstroping het, sluit egter ook nou ander misdade teen sektore van die natuurlewe in. Hieronder val ook nou perlemoenstropery en die onwettige smokkelary van beskermde spesies.

Google translator:

“Two years ago I was asked by Edna Molewa, the then Minister of the Environment, to develop a new strategy.

“The program is now ready to be implemented. It is based on better and more coordinated cooperation between all nature parks - national, provincial, municipal and in the private sector, ”says Jooste.

However, the new strategy, which still has a main focus on the fight against rhino, and nowadays also elephant poaching, now also includes other crimes against wildlife sectors. These include abalone poaching and the illegal smuggling of protected species.



A new strategy to be implemented?

[Lisbeth]

They are putting all kinds of poaching and wildlife crime/trade in one basket, it seems

[Richprins]

Poaching from the Moz side has dropped to virtually nothing regarding central and northern Kruger this year. This is not just due to decimated rhino numbers.

In the South there is a problem regarding the Moz side as there is a community "reserve" between the strip of secured private reserves (Sabie Bloc) that is used as thoroughfare!

[Klipspringer]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/scie ... hinos.html?

Poachers Kill More Rhinos as Coronavirus Halts Tourism to Africa
Threatened and endangered animals may become additional casualties of the pandemic.

By Annie Roth
April 8, 2020

The past few weeks have not been easy for Nico Jacobs, founder of Rhino 911, a nonprofit that provides emergency helicopter transport for rhinoceroses in need of rescue in South Africa. That’s because times are much worse for the rhinos.

Since South Africa announced a national lockdown on March 23 to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, Mr. Jacobs has had to respond to a rhino poaching incident nearly every day. On March 25, he rescued a 2-month-old white rhino calf whose mother had been killed by poachers. The next day he was called to rescue two black rhinos whose horns had been hacked off by poachers. When he finally tracked them down it was too late — both were dead.

“Just as soon as the lockdown hit South Africa, we started having an incursion almost every single day,” Mr. Jacobs said.

At least nine rhinos have been poached in South Africa’s North West province since the lockdown, he said, “and those are just the ones we know about.”

In neighboring Botswana, according to Rhino Conservation Botswana, a nonprofit organization, at least six rhinos have been poached since the country closed its borders to stop the spread of Covid-19. And last week, the country’s government announced that five suspected poachers had been killed by Botswana’s military in two separate incidents.

While poaching is not unusual in Africa — the last decade has seen more than 9,000 rhinos poached — conservationists said the recent incidents in Botswana and South Africa were unusual because they occurred in tourism hot spots that, until now, were considered relatively safe havens for wildlife.

National lockdowns, border closures, emergency visa restrictions, quarantines and other measures put in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus have severely constricted Africa’s $39 billion tourism industry. That business motivates and funds wildlife conservation across the continent, leading some experts to fear that threatened and endangered animals may become additional casualties of the pandemic.

At least nine rhinos have been poached in South Africa’s North West province since the pandemic began, “and those are just the ones we know about,” said Nico Jacobs, Rhino 911’s founder.Credit...Nico Jacobs
“These animals are not just protected by rangers, they’re also protected by tourist presence,” said Tim Davenport, who directs species conservation programs for Africa at the Wildlife Conservation Society. “If you’re a poacher, you’re not going to go to a place where there are lots of tourists, you’re going to go to a place where there are very few of them.”

During this time of year, Africa’s national parks, conservancies and private game reserves should be teeming with tourists and trophy hunters. But thanks to border closures and crackdowns on international travel, foreigners couldn’t visit these places even if they wanted to.