No Country is Innocent

Illegal wildlife trade of horns and tusks is a lucrative worldwide business. In recent years it has exploded into a black market worth of approximately $20 billion a year.  No one seems to be exempt from this growing tragedy. Most obvious involvement lies in Africa, China and Vietnam; but Ireland, the US, and now even the Czech Republic and Poland have blood on their hands.

OPERATION CRASH
To police the snowballing issue,  the US  has stepped up involvement with Operation Crash. It is an ongoing nationwide criminal investigation led by the Fish and Wildlife Service, started in 2010,  that is addressing all aspects of US involvement in the black market rhino horn trade.

The first phase of this probe (focused on the unlawful purchase and outbound smuggling of rhino horn from the US) has resulted in 14 arrests and six convictions to date. Charges filed include conspiracy, smuggling, money laundering, tax evasion and bribery in addition to violations of the Endangered Species Act.

Recently a father and son team described by federal prosecutor as being “at the apex of the rhino horn smuggling pyramid” in the United States, has been sentenced to more than three years in prison on federal wildlife smuggling and money laundering charges. Their involvement in horn smuggling played a direct role in driving the price of rhino horn to nearly $25,000 per lb.

How are other countries faring? According to WWF (World Wildlife Foundation) data: Laos, Mozambique, Mynamar, Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam, and Zambia are failing.

WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC

It is imperative that each country step up laws and regulation on illegal trade. It is not just a Chinese or African problem. This is a worldwide epidemic and we’re in this together. While most countries see the wildlife trade as “an environmental problem”, WWFs President and CEO Carter Roberts warns “illicit wildlife trafficking compromises the security of countries. Much of the trade in illegal wildlife products is run by criminal groups with broad international reach, and the profits can be used to finance civil conflicts and terrorist-related activities. Illicit wildlife trafficking is also linked to other forms of illegal trafficking and money-laundering.”

There is something we can all do. We can be more conscientious and alert.  There are several steps the public can take to support the elimination of the illegal wildlife trade both abroad and domestically:

• International travelers should avoid purchasing and/or carrying wild animal products, including meat, skins, and traditional medicines. Intentionally smuggled wildlife imports are often concealed in boxes or coolers; if you see a passenger carrying a suspicious container report it to Customs and Border Protection officials.
• When traveling domestically, be aware of national and state laws regarding the transport of wild animals. Some laws differ among states.
• We encourage you to make conscientious choices about your pet choices. Always make sure pets are captive-bred and choose pets that present minimal health and environmental risks (please visit PetWatch for more information), and can be adequately cared for in a captive situation. Please visit www.PetWatch.net for more information.

It Takes a Village

How far would you go to help your neighborhood? What would you do to protect it? In the US we have “neighborhood watches” for that very purpose. In northern Kenya, they have a watch group- a grass-roots squad of rangers  formed to protect the elephants and rhino from poachers.

Essentially a conservation militia, these volunteer villagers are fed up and taking matters into their own hands. The ordinary citizens are arming themselves and taking to the bush to fight back. Not necessarily out of a “Have you hugged an elephant today?” attitude, but to protect the money the elephant (and rhino) bring to their villages.

The safari/tourist industry is a successful and integral money-maker for Kenyans. An economic staple, tourists bring in more than a billion dollars a year. Much of that money is contractually bound to go directly to impoverished local communities, which use it for everything from pumping water to college scholarships.

The safari industry also provides 500,000 jobs for the community; everything from cooks to safari guides to accountants. Contrary to the general belief the safari jobs can pay quite well.

In addition to the poachers “robbing” the community of its wildlife, villagers are also turning against them because the illegal wildlife trade fuels crime, corruption, instability in the community. Here in northern Kenya, poachers are diversifying into stealing livestock, printing counterfeit money and sometimes holding up tourists. Some are even buying assault rifles used in ethnic conflicts.

Is this key to future conservation efforts? Nothing else seems to be working. Everything from high tech drones and military deployment to removing or poisoning horns and tusks is being tried; yet poaching rates are still soaring. Perhaps with the local people appreciating and protecting their wildlife, the elephant and rhino still stand a chance.

Poaching Update

URGENT: 13 rhino were poached this week in Kruger National Park.

The total now stands at 229 killed since January 1st.

Poetic Justice: the Jumbo Fought Back

Zimbabwe- In  the Charara National Park area, a typical poaching situation took an unusual turn. The elephant won. The bloodied remains of a man was found by rangers in what was thought to be a botched poaching attempt.

According to the Sunday Mail, the local man was charged by the elephant after he entered the game reserve for an illegal hunting trip with a friend. “The poacher was recently trampled to death by an elephant after he failed to gun down the jumbo during a hunting expedition.”

The second man (the friend) was arrested and charged with illegal possession of  a firearm. A third man was later arrested in connection with the poaching attempt as well.

Due to the increase in poaching, the elephants are listed as vulnerable in Africa. However  the numbers are on the rise in the area of Zimbabwe. Ironically  because of this, there are already talks on what approach should be taken to alleviate the recent boom there. Hopefully this recent event will not be looked at as another indication the population should be “alleviated”, but viewed as karma because for once the elephant wins.

Yao Ming: Making a Difference

At 7ft, 6 in tall, Yao Ming is an intimidating figure, the tallest player in the NBA during his former career with the Houston Rockets. But this gentle giant is spending his time nowadays educating people on the crisis of elephant and rhino poaching.

As a goodwill ambassador to WildAid, he recently teamed up with the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). They are launching a major public awareness campaign targeting the consumption of rhino horn and ivory, in China. With public service announcements stating “When the buying stops, the killing can too.”

Yao Ming with one of the four remaining Northern White Rhino at Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

According to WildAid.Org, in 2012  a Chinese research company did a study  on elephant poaching  finding that:

•  More than half of the nearly 1,000 participants (over 50%) do not think elephant poaching is common;
• 34%, or one in three respondents, believe ivory is obtained from natural elephant mortality;
• Only 33% of all participants believe elephants are poached for their tusks; and
• 94% of residents agree the “Chinese government should impose a ban on the ivory trade

A similar survey was also done on rhino poaching:

• 66% of all participants, that is two out of every three respondents, are not aware that rhino horn comes from poached rhinos;
• Nearly 50% believed rhino horn can be legally purchased from official stores; and
• 95% of residents agree the “Chinese government should take stricter action to prevent use of rhino horns.”

Being an animal lover and inspired by Jackie Chan, the Chinese basketball sensation has made raising awareness a top priority. He is a goodwill ambassador and a promising connection between the poaching crisis of Africa and the demand of the Chinese people.

Yao Ming is followed by Kinango, a 2-week-old orphaned elephant whose mother was poached for her ivory, at Daphne Sheldrick’s orphanage.

According to Ming, “The most effective thing you can do to counter this kind of situation is raise people’s awareness. Eliminate the demand for rhino horn and ivory right at the source. That’s what I want to do. It might take some time, sure, but I’m really hoping that gradually we can start to see an improvement.”

“Poaching threatens livelihoods, education, and development in parts of Africa due to the insecurity it brings and loss of tourism revenue. No one who sees the results firsthand, as I did, would buy ivory or rhino horn. I believe when people in China know what’s happening they will do the right thing and say no to these products.”

Ming’s previous campaign to educate the Chinese on the demand of shark fins,  is credited with a reduction of 50 – 70% in consumption of shark fin in China in 2012. We can only hope his current drive to eliminate the demand for horn and tusk is just as effective.

Yao Mings PSA: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151340496426316

All Creatures Great and Small: Happy Mother’s Day

Mothers are  givers of life, necessary to everyone in any species.

Music to My Ears

One of the best sounds! This is what a rhino sounds like…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNCC6ZYI3SI

A Nation Divided; the Rhino Betrayed

Kruger National Park once again is the flash point for rising tension. As more rhino poachers are entering the park from Mozambique, the relations between the country and South Africa are straining. Are authorities in Mozambique doing enough to stop poaching?

Kruger had taken down existing fences to allow a “peace park” which links Kruger National Park with game parks in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. This park  is the  Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. The theory is to allow game to freely roam in much the way it would have in the time before man’s intervention. This was supposed to be a protected area for the rhino.

Sadly it has only led to their extinction in Mozambique. The numbers of rhino in the Transfrontier Park had recently shrunk to 15, but now they are all gone. The worst part of this tragedy is they were betrayed by the very people assigned to protect them-the rangers. Thirty rangers are being charged with collusion in the rhino deaths.

In what should be the end of a tragedy, it is likely just another endless chapter. Justice is rarely given. The courts barely serve as a deterrent: while killing a rhino in South Africa can attract stricter punishments than killing a person, in Mozambique offenders generally escape with a fine if they are prosecuted at all.

It’s no wonder South Africa tempers are flaring. 
South African National Parks (SANParks) chief executive David Mabunda has called the crisis of rhino poaching a “war situation”, with the   boundary between Kruger and Mozambique proving to be “the weakest line of defence against incursions”.

So what happens now? Should the fence be put back in place? Will it even help? Surely the poachers will venture further into Kruger to butcher the remaining rhinos. With the vastness of a 20,000-square-kilometer (7,700-square-mile) park with a dense lush terrain and only 339 rangers on foot patrol it’s a difficult, if not impossible task to successfully keep poachers at bay as it stands.

Incidentally the rangers were paid  about 2,500 meticais each (about $80)  to direct the poachers to areas with elephants and rhinos. (Game rangers are paid between 2,000 and 3,000 meticais ($64 to $96) a month.) A months worth of pay for the extinction of  a species…

Combating Rhino Poaching

Taken from Elizabeth Gordon via The Huffington Post
Follow Elizabeth_Gordon on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/extrajourneys

Rhino horn is now more expensive (by weight) than gold or cocaine and as a result rhino poaching is reaching epidemic proportions. The number of rhino’s lost to poaching in South Africa climbed from 300 in 2010 to 668 in 2012! 232 rhinos have already been killed in 2013. And these numbers only represent South Africa! Rhino poaching is on the rise in East Africa as well.

There has been a lot of recent coverage of the increase in poaching of both rhinos and elephants (from the BBC to the New York Times to National Geographic) but as far as I’m concerned there can’t be too much attention on this issue, so here’s my contribution.

Today I want to talk about the Rhino Rescue Project (RRP), which is spear-heading a new and unique effort to prevent poaching in reserves around Kruger National Park in South Africa.

The idea is essentially to poison the horn to eliminate the its value

In addition to its ornamental value, much of the rhino horn that is sold illegally is consumed. RRP realized that if they could make the horn indigestible it would decrease the demand, so they decided to infuse into the wild rhino horns the same ectoparasiticide used to control ecto-parasites like ticks in captive rhinos, effectively making the horn toxic.

After some additional research and consultation they decided to add an indelible dye to the infusion, similar to products used in the banking industry to prevent counterfeiting. The dye is visible on an x-ray scanner even when ground to a fine powder so airport security checkpoints can pick up the presence of a treated horn whether the horn is intact or in powder form.

Photo of the Horn Infusion Process by Dylan Brandt for SingitaThe combination of the dye and the ecoparasiticides are intended to destroy the monetary value of the horn and discourage poaching with little to no impact on the rhino. Comprehensive testing is ongoing to ensure that the animals have not been harmed by the treatment. The acaracide selected is even one that is “Ox Pecker-friendly” (a bird commonly found “pecking” rhinos looking for ticks) to ensure little or no damage to other animals and organisms sharing the rhino’s habitat. It is expected that the treatment will remain effective for three to four years before re-administration is required. In addition to the treatment and dye, a DNA sample is collected and added to a national database to aid in prosecutions of poachers.

The first large scale horn infusions recently began in the Sabi Sand Reserve, west of Kruger National Park. Over 100 rhino have been treated and there have been zero losses.

Horn Infusion in the Sabi Sands, Photo by Dylan Brandt, SingitaThere has been speculation and some outcry that the program’s aim is to poison rhino horn consumers.

In RRP’s efforts to clarify their position they have pointed out that; 1) the ecoparasiticides are toxic but not lethal to humans and 2) central to the program’s success is the extensive publicity surrounding the effort.

If the rhinos in a given reserve have been treated, it is widely publicized with 200+ signposts around the reserve’s perimeter and, if a treated rhino is killed, the indelible dye is clearly visible inside the horn to indicate that the horn had been tampered with. RRP also strongly advocates involving as many reserve staff as possible in the horn treatment process so that word about the treatment spreads. All of properties and reserves in the Sabi Sands who have participated in the program are also posting extensively on social media.

Signs posted to warn that horns have been treated from Rhino Rescue ProjectRRP’s hope is that the publicity prevents the rhino’s being poached in the first place and that treated rhino’s will be left alone, their horns intact. From RRP’s perspective every treated horn that enters the market means another rhino has died and the program has failed that animal.

This effort really interested me not only because it involves close cooperation with many of the properties I work with, but also because it is an innovative and proactive solution to rhino poaching that is cost-effective for reserves with small rhino populations that do not have the resources to provide each rhino with an armed guard.

Other Anti-Poaching Efforts

This is by no means the only approach to preventing rhino poaching going on in Africa. Other tactics include traditional methods like 24/7 armed guards and rhino relocation (for example from the Solio and Lewa Conservancies in Kenya and Phinda Private Game Reserve in South Africa) to more innovative tactics such as the horn infusion described above and East Africa’s first unmanned drone patrolling Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

Northern White Rhino with armed guard in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Photo by Ann and Steve ToonThere is also an on-going debate over the creation of a legal market for horn harvested from farmed rhino. Because rhino horn is made of compressed keratin (similar to fingernails and human hair) it can be trimmed periodically. Each rhino can produce about a kilo of horn per year and supporters argue that harvested horn could increase volume enough to drive down the price of illegal horns and reduce poaching. They point to the legal trade in farmed crocodile skins as an example of how legal trade can drive conservation.

Opponents argue the harvest procedure is invasive and harmful to the rhino and that the trade is driven by excessive demand not lack of supply and that a legal trade would not discourage poaching. They point to examples including ivory and abalone where criminal markets flourish alongside the legal one and encourage poaching. Mary Rice, executive director of the Environmental Investigation Agency points to the spike in illegal ivory sales in China after it legally bought stockpiles of ivory from Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe in 2008. (Find more about the farming debate here)

Whatever the end result of the debate, a variety of solutions clearly need to be explored because if the pace of poaching continues to accelerate, Africa’s rhino could be extinct in the wild in just 20 years! Some species including the Western Black Rhino are already gone.

Please check RHINO RESCUE PROJECT for information and ways to support them in their endeavors.

Brighter Days for Suni

At just a year and a half old, litte Suni the elephant has been through more trauma than most animals (or people) have seen in a lifetime. In April of 2012 she was found dragging herself along, after somehow surviving an axe attack.   No family to protect her and with wounds to her chin and a deep laceration to her back (affecting her spine and leaving her right hind leg paralyzed), it was a miracle she was alive!

Fitting Suni for the boot.

Suni was taken to the Lilayi Elephant Nursery in Lusaka to recover.  After sustaining an infection in the spine wound and having  bone fragments removed, it’s hopeful healthy tissue is growing back and allowing for nerve repair and regeneration. With much attention and care, physiotherapy and wound management she has regained almost full use of the leg;  however there is still serious nerve damage and lack of feeling which causes her to turn over on her ankle resulting in swelling and pressure sores. It is therefore imperative that Suni’s leg is braced and supported to prevent her from causing harm to the limb.

With the effort and dedication of many, help was flown in from the US and Norway  to make a boot for Suni. This has been a successful endeavor and has helped her tremendously. She moves with ease and gives no indication of being in pain.

Suni and Zambezi

She shares a stable and yard with Zambezi, another elephant orphan; and she seems more relaxed as she has adjusted to her new environment. It is hopeful she will continue to recover.

WATCH: Suni taking a bath http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M03v5Z5ZEak