From Sanctuary to War-zone: Rhino Poaching in South Africa

From Sanctuary to War-zone: Rhino Poaching in South Africa 

Billi Krochuk ♦ South Africa, home to nearly 80% of the world’s rhino population, is also home to one of the most volatile wildlife poaching epidemics in the world. 

The world has been taken aback by the dramatic increase of rhino poaching seen in Southern Africa, most notably in The Republic of South Africa, in the past three years. Although rhino poaching has raised red flags in the eyes of conservationists for over half a decade, the past two years have shown a dangerous growth in the exponential trend of animals killed for their horns. A nearly 33% increase was seen between 2011 and 2012 alone. So far 2013 is showing that it will blow by 2012’s numbers as soon as September. Last year 668 rhinos, a combination of White and Black Rhinos, were poached – mainly in the famous Kruger National Park. As of June 8^th, levels had already reached 394, over 50% of the rate seen last year. 2012 saw a rate of about 56 rhinos killed per month while 2013 is at a rate of 65 rhinos per month. 

Although poaching incidences are on the rise, anti-poaching efforts are strengthening and becoming more advanced. The armed battle between illegal poachers and conservationists rages on as the years advance and 2013 has already proven to be eventful and potentially revolutionary within the world of wildlife conservation.

 Investigations undertaken in the rhino horn supply chain have shown that the demand for rhino horns comes from Southeastern Asia, mainly in Vietnam. With growing market demands and a powerful drive for profit pushing the industry, hunters from all over Southern Africa (mainly from South Africa and Mozambique) as well as dangerous pseudo-hunters (illegal hunters posing as trophy hunters) are most active in some of the most well-known parks and protected areas. These contributors are providing horns to a trade worth millions of dollars. It has been said that the street value of rhino horn is equal to that of cocaine in the United States. 

Vietnamese traditional medicine tells that ground rhino horn, which is made of keratin, can be used as a cure for nosebleeds, strokes, convulsions, and fevers among other relatively minor ailments, but is now being advertised as a possible cure for cancer. Medical science has shown that the product has no effect on any of the aforementioned illnesses and is in fact no more effective than a placebo. South African and Vietnamese government officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding early this year to establish a partnership to help cure the rhino horn addiction and stop the trade. The drive comes from extinction, because if the current rates of poaching was to persist over the years the extinction of Black and later White Rhinos would be seen within a decade. Vietnam has also launched its own awareness campaign featuring rhinos with hands and feet as horns – playing off of the keratin in horns and in finger/toenails. 

 

To the north-east, South Africa’s neighbour Mozambique is contributing to the issue immensely.  Poor citizens are driven to poach rhinos in Kruger National Park, the location for the most severe poaching statistics, and supply the consumer demand. By doing so they are able to make more money than the majority of conventional jobs offered in that country and unfortunately legislation is not in place and that in place is not properly regulated. Because of this, wildlife protection at the borders or within the country is negligible. South Africa has begun to work towards strengthening the Mozambique-SA border to deter poachers from entering although with little avail. 

The South African government and law enforcement have been actively involved in the arrest and prosecution of poachers and other wildlife criminals although arrests outweigh the prosecutions so numerous guilty contenders get off without even a fine or brief jail time. That being said, the majority of this action has been taken on grassroots-level members, the poachers or smugglers. The Asian contenders involved, although in some cases identified, are rarely prosecuted even with the Vietnam-SA agreement in place. 

Note: Rhino horn is labelled as an illegal trade commodity by numerous organizations and governmental amendments.

South Africa is often considered the “sanctuary gone warzone” for wildlife conservation due to wildlife trafficking. The armed battles that often occur when opposing parties clash can be lethal. Recently a well-respected anti-poaching ranger was shot by a Mozambique poacher and has been in hospital since. Bullets have been shot from both sides, though, and miniature war-like skirmishes are not out of the ordinary. Unfortunately poachers are so desperate and wealth-motivated that they will do whatever they must to achieve their goal. We must look at all levels of involvement, though, and consider too the other members at play. For example, there are numerous veterinarians that have been known to assist the illegal rhino horn farming industry seen within private wildlife reserve in South Africa. Private reserve owners who have a rhino population on their land may choose to cut the horns off and allow them to grow back, a practise similar to cutting fingernails, to help deter poachers and trespassers. Instead of destroying the horn, however, they have been stockpiling them so that they may cash out when they deem it fit. Stockpiling is an international issue and investors are beginning to count on extinction so that they make maximum profit possible off of their horns. 

Beyond ripening practices such as those detailed above, 2013 has seen major events and technological breakthroughs for conservation. 

CITES CoP16

In March of this year the international CITES CoP16 was held in Bangkok, Thailand. This gathering of officials allowed for numerous global wildlife issues to be discussed, including a 3-part program hosted by South Africa on the plight of rhino species. This program included talks about “Rhino Conservation”, “Rhino Safety & Conservation” and “Rhino Economics”. The formers noted mainly South Africa’s recent successes seen in 2012 through their progressive anti-poaching programs and techniques but the latter proved to be more controversial within the group. The Department of Environmental Affairs has noted that they would like to support the research and implementation of a legalized international rhino horn trade. Speakers in support included one of the prominent private reserve owners. This concept though possible is far from being conceivably successful considering the fact that the hunting industries in supplier countries are not stable and regulation has begun to decrease. This would put a major stint in conservation efforts and we could see a result similar to that of the tuna fishing industry – quotas being ignored and populations plummeting. 

The regulation of this trade would be very difficult considering the already prominent and well-established illegal trade chains and related gangs going cross-boundary and working heavily underground and through corrupt wildlife management sectors. The topic was briefly discussed and the government’s interest in the idea was established within the international community (they also noted countries who would be in support) although will not be considered until CITES CoP17 which will be hosted in South Africa in 2016. Obvious contradictions in legislation with the Vietnam-SA partnership to lessen the impacts of rhino poaching have been identified by many groups.

Secretariat Summary from CITES CoP16

"- Illegal rhinoceros horn trade is conducted by sophisticated organized crime groups and involves the use of specially-recruited couriers and fraudulent hunters, money-laundering, fraudulent applications for hunting licences and CITES documents, violations of currency controls and corruption of officials.

- Adequate legislation and enforcement controls to ensure that trophies remain in the possession of their owners for the sole purpose indicated in the CITES export permit is essential and enforcement authorities should be legally empowered to conduct inspections to ensure that such trophies remain in lawful possession.

-  The Secretariat believes that draft decisions related to anti-money laundering, controlled deliveries and the establishment of Wildlife Incident Support Teams, as proposed in other enforcement and species-specific documents prepared for the present meeting, will also positively impact on the prevention of rhinoceros poaching and illegal trade in rhinoceros horn and that they will complement the draft decisions proposed in Annex 1 below.

All Parties should:

a) report rhinoceros horn seizures to countries of origin if origin can be determined, to enable such countries to conduct appropriate follow up investigations;

b) fully exploit rhinoceros horn seizures by using innovative investigation techniques, such as controlled deliveries and the forensic technologies at their disposal, as appropriate, in cases related to illegal rhino horn trade;

c) advise the countries of destination when they issue permits or certificates authorizing the movement of specimens of rhinoceroses, including pre-Convention certificates, so that the true nature of the trade may be scrutinized.

All areas where rhinoceros horn is consumed should engage in public awareness and demand reduction campaigns highlighting the current serious levels of criminality associated with illegal trade in rhinoceros horn and the impact of illegal trade on the species. Demand-reduction strategies should be implemented for an adequate duration and on a large enough scale to achieve a measurable change in consumer behavior that will reduce consumption of rhinoceros horn of illegal origin.

Viet Nam should expeditiously adopt legislation to strengthen its control of trade in rhinoceros horn by implementing control mechanisms to verify that individuals who import rhinoceros horn trophies do not use it for other purposes. An investigation should be initiated where individuals that are no longer in possession of the horns they had imported." (CITES Secretariat, 2013)

Near-revolutionary technologies have been introduced to the field this year, some as recently as early this month.

Dinokeng Pink Horns

In the populous province of Gauteng in Northeast South Africa, just a hop, skip and a jump from Swaziland, is the Dinokeng Wildife Reserve. The large private reserve has been causing a lot of buzz in the rhino poaching community by revolutionizing biological tools. Through a project developed by a local veterinarian, a pink dye which is derived from tick-controlling substances in livestock is injected into the horns. The catch: it’s poisonous to humans. This parasiticide is inserted into the keratin by drilling a small hole into the horn, thus dubbing that animal’s horn dangerous for human consumption. Though not lethal, the parasiticide causes nausea, stomach aches and diarrhea in humans and can be detected on the animal as well as when ground into a powder at the end of the supply chain. It also triggers sensors in airport scanning devices. The results? Zero rhinos poached since the opening of the reserve. Beyond that, microchips are inserted into the horn with can be used to track the animal’s movement or the movement of the horn should it be poached.

 

Falcon-UAV

International involvement in the protection of rhino species in South Africa has continued to grow in the past 5 years and as of June 3^rd, American-inspired unmanned air drones were introduced to the fight. Used to monitor mine fields during Taliban raids, Falcon is able to send high-resolution images and GPS coordinates at any given time to information centres nearby. The light-weight aircraft can also carry an electro-optical daytime camera or thermal infrared camera to help with identifying possible illegal camps, many of which are dotted along the Mozambique-SA border. With a price tag of USD20 000 (USD80 000 cheaper than the military grade) reserves and parks are finding them more and more affordable as sponsors support the project and overall rhino-protecting efforts. 

Coordinator of the Johannesburg-based Endangered Wildlife Trust, Kirsty Brebner, said that “We know there’s no silver bullet and that this won’t on its own solve the poaching problem, but it’s another tool in the toolbox. As another ‘eye in the sky’ there’s definitely potential to it and we can certainly see the value.”

And so 2013 has drawn a mixed hand of cards in the game of wildlife conservation so far. That being said, successes cannot be overlooked. There have been great successes in the field with over 117 arrests of wildlife criminals; supply chains detailed, current acts in place have been made stronger, anti-poaching teams have gained more technology, support and members, and so on. Overall, the rhino conservation community grows stronger as international awareness and national efforts increase. Continued efforts are however required to keep the increasingly growing poaching community at bay and to help lessen the demand for the products internationally. Corruption within the wildlife sector of various countries must be controlled. 

We’re only half-way through June. With how jam-packed 2013 has been so far there’s no telling what we might see come from this issue for the remaining months.

  
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CITES Secretariat. (2013, March). Sixteen th meeting of the conference of the parties bangkok (thailand), 3-14 march 2013 . Retrieved from http://www.cites.org/eng/cop/16/doc/E-CoP16-54-02.pdf

CITES official publication on notes made from the CITES CoP16; large quote used from the document.

Cota-Larson, R. (2013, January 10). South africa: 668 rhinos killed in 2012. Retrieved from http://www.rhinoconservation.org/2013/01/10/south-africa-668-rhinos-killed-in-2012/

 Cota-Larson, R. (2012, December 10). South africa and vietnam sign agreement to curb rhino horn trafficking. Retrieved from http://annamiticus.com/2012/12/10/south-africa-and-vietnam-sign-agreement-to-curb-rhino-horn-trafficking/

Both sources above were used to gather data on statistics of animals killed, poachers arrested and details on TRAFFIC. Details on the MoU were collected as well.

Cota-Larson, R. (2013, February 7). South africa: 82 rhinos killed in 37 days. Retrieved from http://www.rhinoconservation.org/2013/02/07/south-africa-82-rhinos-killed-in-37-days/

Collected mainly details on stockpiling and the contribution of private land owners.

Cota-Larson, R. (2013, March 22). Cites cop16 round up and commentary. Retrieved from http://annamiticus.com/2013/03/22/cites-cop16-round-up-and-commentary/

CITES CoP16 summary and outline from a conservationist’s point of view.

Daily Mail Reporter. (2013, June 3). Rhino horns poisoned and painted pink to keep poachers away in revolutionary scheme in south africa read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2335274/rhino-horns-poisoned-painted-pink-poachers-away-revolutionary-scheme-south-africa.html

Details on the Dinokeng Wildlife Reserve project.

Republic of South Africa Environmental Affairs. (2013, February 28). Rhino poaching interventions and the position of south africa to the 16th conference of parties of the convention in international trade in endangered species of fauna and flora (cites). Retrieved from https://www.environment.gov.za/content/rhinopoaching_interventionsandpositionofsa_16copofthecites  

South African government plans for CITES CoP16 (prior to the event happening).

WWF Global. (n.d.). African rhino poaching crisis. Retrieved from http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/rhinoceros/african_rhinos/poaching_crisis_african_rhinos/

Information used from this source was for general issue information, sources, reasons, etc.

Yeld, J. (2013, June 3). Drones to help fight in anti-poaching war. Retrieved from http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/environment/drones-to-help-fight-in-anti-poaching-war-1.1526137

Falcon-UAV notes and outline.