Rhino Poaching in South Africa

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Rhino Poaching in South Africa Number of Rhinos poached 800

653

600

448 333

400

Rhino Species

200

There are two rhino species in Africa: • The black, or hook-lipped, rhino (approx. 4,800) • The white, or square-lipped, rhino (approx. 20,165) And three other remaining rhino species: • Indian rhino (approx. 2,850) in India and Nepal • Sumatran rhino (less than 200) in Sumatra • Javan rhino (less than 50) in Indonesia

13

83

122

2008

2009

0 2007

2010

2011

2012

Why the increase? •

One of the reasons is thought to be the announcement in 2008 that a Vietnamese official had been cured of cancer by using rhino horn.



Black-marketeers are stock-piling horns to control the market and in the hope that rhinos will be extinct in 10 or 20 years time so they can name their price.



It also believed that many privately owned horns were sold in the mid 2000s and the supply has now dried up.



Rhino horn in some parts of Asia is worth more than US$65,000 per kilo. This is higher than both gold, platinum and cocaine. Currently the rewards from poaching outweigh the risks.



You could be the last generation to see a live rhino. If rhino poaching continues at the current rate, rhino populations will quickly decrease, leading to the risk that rhinos that you have so enjoyed observing, simply won’t be around for your children or grandchildren to enjoy. Rhinos have been an important part of a wide range of ecosystems for around 50 million years. Rhinos are an umbrella species, which means that while protecting rhinos, other species which share the same habitat benefit from those protections. Rhinos are the second largest land mammals. They encourage visitors to areas where local communities benefit from the funds brought into the area.

2012 population figures

How do rhinos use their horns? • • • •

Defence: female rhinos will protect their young against predators. Attack: male rhinos will use their large front horns as weapons when fighting for dominancy. Greeting: black rhinos often rub horns to greet one another. Guiding: female rhinos will use their horn to guide their calf.

What is rhino horn made of? Rhino horns are largely made up of keratin, a similar material to our hair and nails, and to animal hooves. The centre of the horn contains dense mineral deposits of calcium and melanin. They are similar in structure to a horse’s hoof.

The market in rhino horn

Why should you consider helping?



Historic uses: Yemen: for the handles of curved daggers, or ‘jambiya’, presented to boys at the age of 12.



China: from at least 7th century a.d. rhino horns have been used to carve into ceremonial cups, buttons, belt buckles, hair-pins and paper weights.



The trade now: Many Asian countries: used in Chinese traditional medicine, ground into powder and dissolved in boiling water. It is used to treat a number of ailments including fever, rheumatism and gout, as well as ailments as diverse as snake bites, hallucinations, typhoid, headaches, vomiting and food poisoning. It is not, as is commonly thought, used as an aphrodisiac.

What we are doing and what you can do to help How we have been affected In 1998, when we first introduced rhinos to Ant’s Nest, we could not have foreseen the implications of the national rhino poaching problem that we have seen since 2009. It was in 2010 that rhino poaching became a national issue and rhino poaching began in the Waterberg area. We were aware of the problem and began doing regular fence patrols at that time. In December 2011 we suffered our first poaching. At that time, our fences were dropped with our neighbour and our rhinos liked to roam the plains which bordered the Ellisras Road at Ant’s Hill. Poachers entered the farm and shot one of our beautiful rhino cows, Split Horn, and her eleven month old baby. The baby survived for 24 hours and we drafted in help from the renowned rhino expert, Karen Trendler. Unfortunately the bullet had done too much damage and the calf was lost. We immediately stepped up fence checks and patrols, and monitored the location of our rhinos every day and in May 2012 we hired two security guards. In a property of this size, however, two guards cannot cover the whole area (for a property of this size we would ideally have 6-8 security guards) and we were hit again in August 2012, when another of our cows, Banana Horn, was shot. Her eighteen month old calf, Max, escaped and can often be seen at Ant’s Hill. ***Please do not be alarmed. There has never been an incident involving a guest at a lodge or in a National Park, nor involving guides going about their daily work. Poachers remain hidden and do not engage in aggressive action against people.***

The Cost of Security After both poaching incidents we had a choice. We could either dramatically increase the security over the whole reserve or we could sell all of our rhinos and make this a rhino-free reserve. If you have spent any time with our rhinos you will be aware that we know them all personally and would do almost anything to keep them here. The cost of securing our rhinos is around R60,000 per month (at time of writing that equates to around £4255 or €5230 or US$6840).

Founding of Save the Waterberg Rhino Alongside the two incidents at Ant’s, we were also aware of a number of other incidents of poaching in area. At that time, we decided that we wanted to do something to protect rhinos in the whole Waterberg area. As the plan developed, and we heard from experts in the field, we learnt that securing the area in general is essential to securing rhinos in the Waterberg and individual rhino owners cannot make a difference by themselves. We managed to unite the community in this aim and Save the Waterberg Rhino was founded in November 2012. It is Non Profit Organisation, under the umbrella of the Waterberg Biosphere Reserve and supported by Stop Rhino Poaching. The charity was given a kick start by a very generous donation made by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, allowing us to implement many of the above protections.

What we still want to do As well as the ongoing costs of securing our rhinos through the employment of security guards, we still want to buy a number of items to support our efforts against poaching: • Thermal vision equipment (approximately £6000) • Bullet proof vests (to protect staff doing patrols) • Quad bikes to enable the security guards to patrol more of the reserve • Camera traps to secure the fence-lines Any funding received once we have achieved our aims at Ant’s will be provided to support other rhino owners and to rhino security in the area.

What can you do to help? What we have done • • •

• •



Since the second incident, we have hired two armed security guards to work alongside one of the original security guards we employed. Our staff still do regular patrols and fence checks in addition to the work of the security guards. We have had our rhino horns treated with an ecto-parisiticide and pink cash-in-transit dye, to deter poachers, in order to make the horns unsaleable. We have attached a tracking device to Erwin, our bull, to monitor his movements. We have introduced a Conservancy Fee, similar to that charged in many National Parks and Private Game Reserves, in order to support our work in protecting rhinos and managing the animals within the reserve. We feed our rhinos daily at Ant and Tessa’s house so that we can keep an eye on them (guests are welcome to have sundowners there and watch the rhinos, although we cannot guarantee they will turn up every day).

• Ask for more information from your guide or host at dinner. We will happily speak to you about the issues surrounding rhino poaching. • Add your voice. Speak to your friends and family about the issue. • Leave a donation in our donation box in the lodge for Save the Waterberg Rhino, a non profit organisation dedicated to protecting rhinos in the local area. • Take home a poster and put it up in your office • Buy a t-shirt or bumper sticker in our curio shop. • Become a friend of Save the Waterberg Rhino for R1,500 per year • Visit the website www.waterbergrhino.com to see what they are doing and make a donation via our website. • Sign up for the newsletter via the website to get updates on progress. • “Like” the Save the Waterberg Rhino page on Facebook. Interesting Reading Killing for Profit: Exposing the Illegal Rhino Horn Trade by Julian Rademeyer The Rhino Keepers: Struggle For Survival by Clive Walker and Anton Walker