Posted on 04 July 2011
Nearly 200 rhinos
have been killed in South Africa during
the first half of the year, according to
statistics from the national parks department.
The rate of poaching if not curbed could
exceed 2010 levels when a record 333 rhinos
were killed in the country.
South Africa has lost
at least 193 rhinos during the first six
months of 2011 with Kruger National Park
continuing to be hardest hit. The world
famous safari destination has already lost
126 rhinos to poaching this year in addition
to 146 killed there in 2010.
“Poaching is being undertaken almost without
exception by sophisticated criminals, sometimes
hunting from helicopters and using automatic
weapons,” says Dr. Joseph Okori, WWF’s African
Rhino Programme Coordinator. “South Africa
is fighting a war against organized crime
that risks reversing the outstanding conservation
gains it made over the past century.”
South Africa is home to the largest populations
of African rhinos, including white rhinos
and critically endangered black rhinos.
In response to the recent poaching crisis,
law enforcement measures have been increased
resulting in 123 arrests and six successful
convictions so far in 2011. Last year South
African authorities arrested a total of
165 suspected poachers and convicted four.
Judicial proceedings are ongoing for many
of the suspects.
“We are pleased to see
more successful convictions of poachers,”
said Dr. Morné du Plessis, CEO of
WWF South Africa. “Applying strict penalties
for wildlife crimes such as rhino poaching
will demonstrate the South African government’s
commitment to maintaining this important
part of the country’s heritage.”
In June, neighbouring Swaziland lost its
first rhino to poaching in nearly 20 years
sparking fears that the crime wave could
be spreading. Authorities in Swaziland arrested
three suspects within days of the killing,
but have since released them on bail.
WWF opposes the granting
of bail to poaching suspects due to the
gravity of their crimes and their high flight
risk. Suspects at large continue to pose
a threat to rhinos and can cause delays
to judicial proceedings.
“We cannot allow poaching
to proliferate across rhino range countries,”
Dr. Okori says. “Swift prosecutions of wildlife
crimes and strict sentences for perpetrators
will serve as a deterrent to potential criminals.
Poachers should be shown no leniency.”
Rhino poaching is being fueled by demand
for horns in Asia, where they are highly
valued for traditional medicine, although
rhino horn has no scientifically proven
healing properties.
“The poaching surge shows no sign of abating,”
says Tom Milliken, Elephant & Rhino
Programme Coordinator with TRAFFIC, the
wildlife trade monitoring group. “Only a
concerted international enforcement pincer
movement, at both ends of the supply and
demand chain, can hope to nip this rhino
poaching crisis in the bud.”
WWF and TRAFFIC provide technical assistance
to wildlife management authorities and support
greater inter-agency law enforcement cooperation.
In May WWF financed the purchase of an ultralight
aircraft for rangers in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal
province. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of
WWF and IUCN.
