South Africa Considers Rhino Farming, Horn-Trading on Bourse (1)

South Africa, which hosts about 90 percent of the world’s rhinoceros population, should consider lifting a domestic ban on trade in the animals’ horns, authorizing commercial farming and trading the horn on the Johannesburg bourse, a Department of Environmental Affairs report showed.

The steps were proposed as part of an effort to halt poaching that is threatening eventual extinction for the animals. At least 514 out of a national population, that stood at 20,711 in 2010, have been poached this year, the department said in the report, which was released by e-mail today. Most of rest of the global population is spread across sub-Saharan Africa with the next biggest concentration being in Namibia.

“Some viewed the lifting of the ban on trade in rhino horn as the panacea that would end poaching and save the rhino from otherwise inevitable extinction,” the department said, referring to consultation on the measures. “This view was supported by market theorists who argued that in a market where rhino horn could be traded freely, market forces would automatically drive horn prices down, obviating the need for syndicates to face risks associated with poaching.”

A similar argument has been mounted about elephant ivory with Southern African nations including South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana advocating legal trade in the product while Kenya and other countries oppose it.

South Africa should “consider opening a rhino horn trading bourse possibly linked to the JSE,” the department said, referring to Africa’s biggest stock and bond exchange.

Horn Stockpiles

The surge in poaching comes even after the government deployed the army in the Kruger National Park, its biggest protected wildlife area, and has stepped up arrests of poachers. They target South Africa for the horns, which sell for more than gold by weight in Asia where they are believed to cure cancer and boost sexual prowess.

The government department also recommends asking for permission for auctions this year of rhino-horn stockpiles to help pay for anti-poaching initiatives, and to upgrade South Africa’s border with Mozambique along Kruger National Park.

Wildlife Trafficking

Czech Republic authorities seized 24 white-rhino horns and arrested 16 people yesterday in connection with wildlife trafficking, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The gang posed as hunters and then applied for export-import trophies that allowed them to export the horns as personal mementos, the group said in a statement today.

“Illegal trade alone is nudging rhinos to extinction,” Kelvin Alie, director of IFAW’s Wildlife Crime and Consumer Aware Programme, said in the statement. “Only international cooperation between law enforcement authorities will end illegal wildlife trafficking.”

Most rhinos, which weigh as much as 4.5 metric tons, are killed in the Kruger National Park, an area nearly as big as Israel that borders Mozambique, with a porous border that is easily crossed by poachers wielding assault rifles. Mozambique is the world’s 20th poorest nation, according to the International Monetary Fund.

“We remain unconvinced that legal international trade in rhino horn is a feasible approach for rhino conservation,” Jo Shaw, WWF South Africa Rhino Programme Coordinator, said in an e-mailed statement. “Uncertainty about how legal trade may in turn influence demand adds to the challenging complexity of the proposition.”

News Link:–http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-07-24/south-africa-considers-rhino-farming-horn-trading-on-bourse-1

Related Link Stop Rhino Poaching:-http://www.stoprhinopoaching.com/

Elephants ‘shot to eat’

TWO elephants that dodged poachers, illness and landmines to walk from Mozambique to South Africa have been shot dead and their meat donated to a local chief on the orders of KwaZulu– Natal Wildlife.

The elephants were killed last week even though the provincial nature conservation body, Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, did not have  permits to shoot them.

Parks and People general manager Sifiso Kheswa defended the shooting of the two animals, saying that there had been  numerous phone calls from locals who had contacted him to complain that the animals were threatening them.

African Elephant in South Africa (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But the shooting was also possibly in violation of Ezemvelo’s policy on dealing with problem animals – which is that, whenever possible, problem animals should be chased away from people or darted and relocated.

The two elephants had been in the same area close to the Tembe Park for more than three weeks, and according to Ezemvelo staff, had not attacked any humans.
They had, however, walked over a small piece of agricultural land, causing minimal damage.

A retired former senior employee of Ezemvelo said that the animals had been shot, under protest, by a conservation manager. The source said that the manager had informed Kheswa that the animals posed little or no threat to humans.

He warned Kheswa in writing that there were no permits to destroy the specially protected animals. But Kheswa ordered the animals to be shot regardless.

The trunks, tusks, ears and feet were removed  and the carcasses donated to a local chief.

The source said: “That was the reason the animals were shot: for their meat.

“The local chief wanted meat … Every year elephants and other animals are killed unnecessarily because locals put pressure on head office to shoot the animals – knowing they will score the meat.”

News link:–http://www.citizen.co.za/citizen/content/en/citizen/local-news?oid=334312&sn=Detail&pid=334&Elephants-%E2%80%98shot-to-eat%E2%80%99

South Africa reports 281 rhinos killed this year

JOHANNESBURG (AP) – South Africa says 281 of the country’s endangered rhinoceros have been killed by poachers in the first six months of the year.

 

The Environment Department said Tuesday that the huge Kruger National Park adjacent to neighbors Mozambique and Zimbabwe was the worst hit, losing 164 rhinos.

The figures in the midyear review indicate that poaching is still on the rise in South Africa, where 448 rhinos were killed last year, up from 333 in 2010.

The department said 176 people have been arrested since January, 153 of them alleged poachers, with the others being couriers, buyers or exporters.

South Africa is home to some 20,000 rhinos, more than any other country.

Demand for powdered rhino horn has soared in Asia where it is used in traditional medicines and is believed to relieve cancer symptoms.

News Link:-http://www.kfvs12.com/story/19043697/south-africa-reports-281-rhinos-killed-this-year

 

Hunt for poaching suspects turns deadly

A Rhino poaching suspect has been shot and killed in a gunfight with wildlife rangers at Ndumo Game Reserve, on KwaZulu-Natal’s northern border with Mozambique.

The shooting happened early on Wednesday when a group of three poachers was intercepted in the reserve by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s anti-poaching unit.

Ezemvelo had received information on Tuesday night that a rhino poaching attempt was about to be launched in Ndumo.

According to Ezemvelo rhino security co-ordinator Jabulani Ngubane, rifle shots were fired when the poaching suspects were confronted around 5am.

Ezemvelo officers returned fire and, once the shooting stopped, a critically injured man was found nearby.

He died before an ambulance arrived at the reserve.

Ngubane said the man’s age, nationality and other personal details had not yet been established. The other two suspects, including a man carrying a rifle, escaped.

Police had been notified and were expected to investigate the incident.

Ngubane said 18 rhinos had been poached in KwaZulu-Natal this year, either on private ranches on in provincial reserves.

Nationwide, at least 159 rhinos have been killed by horn-poaching criminal syndicates this year.

The heaviest losses have been in the Kruger National Park, where at least 95 rhinos have been killed in just over three months.

SA National Parks environmental crimes investigations head Ken Maggs said last week that more than 600 rhinos would be dead by the end of the year if the current slaughter rate continued.

Maggs said rhino horn poaching was now increasingly co-ordinated by organised crime syndicates, with profit levels comparable to illegal weapons and drugs trading. – The Mercury

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