220 endangered rhinos killed in South Africa since start of 2012

COASTWEEK.COM

JOHANNESBURG (Xinhua) – At least 220 endangered rhinos have been lost to the poachers for their horns in South Africa since the beginning of this year, a government department said on Tuesday.

Among the slaughtered rhinos, 207 were killed in the famous Kruger National Park in the northeastern province of Limpopo , and the reserves in the central northern province of the North West and the southeastern province of KwaZulu-Natal , said the Department of Environmental Affairs.

In 2011, a total of 448 rhinos were killed in South Africa , compared to 333 in 2010.

Conservationists have warned the rhino in South Africa is facing their worst poaching crisis in decades. 

If the killing trend continues at this rate, it is expected that at least 500 rhinos will be illegally slaughtered by the end of 2012.

“The department, our provinces and public entities view this illegal killing of our national treasure in a very serious light, and will continue to prioritize our fight against this crime with other law enforcement agencies,” said the department spokesperson Albi Modise.

A total of 146 arrests have been made in an effort to curb the illegal poaching of the rhino this year, according to the department.

South Africa is home to the largest endangered rhino population in the world of about 20, 000, occupying nearly 80 percent of the global total population of rhino.

Stop wanton tree cutting

THE CITIZEN – TANZANIA

 

Although deforestation is taking place rapidly in Tanzania, little is done to stop it. Trees are felled recklessly, with up to 500,000 hectares of forests being destroyed annually while on only 20,000 hectares are reforested.

Apocalyptic visions of ecologists are that the country’s entire forest cover will disappear in about 10 to 16 decades unless the situation is checked.

It is understood that forests provide the country with its catchments and wood fuel. One million tonnes of charcoal are produced annually, mainly for domestic use.

Officials in the ministry of Energy and Minerals have been criticised for inexplicable laxity at the expense of the nation. One wonders whether anybody cares at all about the importance of conserving our natural resources for the benefit of posterity.

In recent years, small-scale gold miners have destroyed large parts of natural forests in the Eastern Arc Mountains.
The worst affected areas are Balangai Forest Reserve and Amani Nature Reserve, the last being a Unesco-designated reserve.

A few weeks ago, gold miners invaded the Shengena natural forest in Same District and wananchi called on authorities to stop the invaders, but government officials have been prevaricating for reasons best known to them.
Such a degree of irresponsibility is perplexing.

We call on authorities in Same and elsewhere to move in urgently and stop deforestation that is spelling doom for Tanzania.

Rhino to be extinct by 2015?

iAFRICA.COM

Rhinos will be wiped out from South Africa’s wildlife parks by 2015 if poaching continues at its current rate, a campaigner fighting to save the beasts has warned.

And corruption among officials is contributing to the ongoing slaughter, said veterinary nurse Karen Trendler.

In a career spanning almost two decades, 50-year-old Trendler has raised 200 baby rhino orphans at a wildlife sanctuary in Pretoria, earning the nickname “Mama Rhino.”

She is planning to open a special treatment centre for them, warning that the situation has become critical.

Poachers nabbed 448 rhinos last year, and in the first three months of this year the toll stood at 109 — in other words, a kill-rate of more than one a day.

While the poachers target the adult rhinos for their horns, baby rhinos often die too, unable to survive alone.

The sharp increase in poaching has raised concerns among experts that the animals could disappear from the wild within the next four years, Trendler said.

“You hate to sound alarmist, you hate to even consider that it could happen. But if the poaching continues at the current rate we could eventually see rhino go extinct.

“There are predictions that by 2015 we could have no rhino.”

The problem has been exacerbated by the fact that some people working in wildlife conservation and animal welfare have been implicated in the lucrative poaching industry, Trendler said.

“There are some incredibly good guys in the business who are doing amazing things and who would give their lives for those rhino.

“But unfortunately we do have an element of corruption. There have already been prosecutions and arrests, where government officials are complicit.”

The booming market for rhino horn and increasingly sophisticated poaching methods help explain the devastating death-rate, Trendler said.

“There is a growing economy in Asia, so there is more disposable income to pay for Chinese traditional medicine.

“There is easier accessibility, poachers have better technology, so using cellphones and GPS they can move the horn that much quicker through the process.

“On top of that there’s the sinister part of it where it’s actually being stockpiled against extinction.

“So they just take up as much as they can get and it’s held in stockpile for the time when the numbers drop and the value of the horn goes up,” Trendler said.

Some private owners are even pushing to have the trade in rhino horns legalised, arguing that prohibition has done nothing to stop poaching, something that Trendler vehemently opposes.

She is busy building a rhino orphanage at a golf and leisure resort near Mokopane in Limpopo, in the north of the country.

Presented as South Africa’s first non-commercial and non-tourist rhino orphanage, it will have an intensive care unit with incubators, drips and surveillance cameras.

A small team of carers will look after the baby rhinos, and human contact will be kept to a minimum because the aim is to release them back into the wild.

Once they are strong enough to leave the unit, they will be introduced to their “surrogate parents,” a pair of adult rhinos who live in the resort’s game park, Trendler said.

“We’ve had phenomenal success in the past with rhino who are naturally very nurturing or who have a lovely nature who’ll take on calves and become a friend or a companion,” she said. “Given the characteristics of the two rhino that are here, we believe they are probably going to form bonds with the calves.”

Red Colobus monkey almost extinct in Ghana

GHANA NEWS AGENCY

Takoradi, Jan. 25, GNA – The Red Colobus monkey is almost extinct in the country due to destruction of their natural habitat and hunting.

 

Mrs Exorm Ametorelo Erskine, an Assistant Wildlife Officer at the Western Regional Office of the WildLife Division, told the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday that these monkeys used to be in rainforests at Bia and other protected areas in the country but there had been no sign of them for years.

 

Mrs Erskine said the Red Colobus monkey dwelt on tall and big trees which had not been cut down some people hunt the monkeys and illegally export them.

 

She said majority of monkeys help in the dispersal of forest trees. For instance, the Red Colobus eat the fruits of tall trees and drop the seeds somewhere to germinate.

 

Mrs Erskine said some animals like the elephant also help in the germination of some forest trees.

 

“If the seeds of such trees do not pass through the digestive system of the elephant, germination is not possible”, Mrs Erskine said.

 

She said other endangered animals which are completely protected are Diana Monkey, chimpanzee, Bossman’s Potto, Long Tail Pangolin, Bush Baby and lion.

 

Mrs Erskine said pythons eat animals such as rat, mice, grass cutter, birds and others which destroy crops and therefore help to keep the population of these animals in check.

 

She said, “All wild animals, be it big or small, has a task to perform in the environment and not being aware of their specific function does not mean they are useless,” she said.

GNA

Africa: Continent’s Rare Species of Flora and Fauna Face Extinction as Poaching Intensifies

Allafrica.com – EDMUND KAGIRE

Most rare and precious African fauna and flora species are on the verge of extinction, today more than in the past years following increased illegal trade in the past decade as global demand for these increases on daily basis.

Game poaching has been singled out as the greatest threat that could lead to the extinction of wild animals like elephants, leopards, rhinoceros, gorillas and buffaloes among other African animals, making these species more endangered like never before.

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The demand for lucrative elephant tusks, rhinoceros horns, game meat, skins and hides has been shifted to Africa making illegal poaching more lucrative as traffickers devise new tactics to elude wildlife authorities.

Demand for aloe vera, cycads, plant succulents and other rare plant species found on the African continent, in the fast growing global cosmetic, food and beverage industries has doubled, threatening to wipe out these rare plants off the face of the earth if African countries don’t act fast to avert the situation.

Consequently, African states which haven’t acceded to the Lusaka Agreement on Cooperative Enforcement Operations Directed at Illegal Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora have been encouraged to do so if a united front to combat this illegal and criminal practice is to be formed.

This call was made by wildlife conservation experts and policy makers from different African countries during the regional 9th Governing council of the parties to the Lusaka agreement meeting held recently, in Kampala.

The Lusaka Agreement adopted in 1994 by east and southern African countries is a platform for these countries to unite and combat illegal trafficking and trade in wild fauna and flora, though some countries in the region have been adamant as far as acceding to and ratifying the agreement is concerned.

Three of the five east African Community member states, that is Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania have signed this agreement together with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), while Rwanda and Burundi are yet to sign the agreement which has listed, among other animals, Mountain Gorillas as one of those species most endangered and threatened into extinction by illegal poaching activities.

Rwanda, Uganda and the DRC are the only countries in the world with Mountain Gorillas and experts have warned that these tourist attractions could become extinct in the years to come if much more is not done to protect them from the wrath of poachers.

There are only 720 of these Mountain Gorillas, surviving today.

Recent research also reveals that demand for hardwood timber on the world market has led to illegal tree felling and timber logging activities in the equatorial forests which are home to Mountain Gorillas, putting their habitat at risk.

Speaking at the regional meeting the Kenyan minister for Tourism and Wildlife Conservation, Dr. Noah Wekesa blamed the increased poaching activities in the region to the proliferation of small arms accessed by poachers and on weak legislation saying that even if caught, such criminals are able to walk away scot-free since there are no strong laws to punish the culprits.

“We should amend our laws to strongly deal with these individuals harshly and on this we should bring on board as many nations as possible,” noted the Kenyan official.

The Ugandan Minister of state in charge of Tourism and Wildlife, Serapio Rukundo, called upon countries in the Great Lakes Region to dedicate more funds to wildlife conservation towards fighting and eliminating poaching and sensitizing the population on the dangers of poaching.

“There should be total abolition of illegal poaching. For example if Gorillas are killed, a lot of revenue is lost. Gorillas are core to tourism,” Rukundo said.

Rukundo said that the demand for wild animals such as Rhinos and Leopards is increasing yet little is being done to protect them.

Despite many African countries being parties to the Convention in Trade on Endangered Species (CITES), research shows that Africa still faces a bigger challenge in protecting natural resources and endangered species as the figures have remained the same since 1990.

Data from the Lusaka Agreement reveals that over 20.000 elephants are killed in Africa annually and the ivory worth over $20m is exported to China, USA and Japan where it has a lucrative ready market.

There is also a ready market for rhino horns, hippo teeth, primates like Gorillas and African monkeys, skins of leopards, zebras, cheetahs, giraffes, pythons, turtle shells, coral shells, snakes, crocodiles, birds and many other species found in Africa, grossing over $120m in illegal trade.

Participants singled out China’s over ambitious penetration into Africa and demand of raw materials such as minerals to feed its booming industrial sector as the current single threat to African bio-diversity and ecosystem which poses a great danger if not checked soon.

China’s activities in Africa have of late been receiving scathing attacks from environmental activists as most of them disregard the environment.

The United Nations Environment Programme pledged support to African States towards enforcing and implementing environment laws and policies in the battle to conserve the environment and meeting global targets and goals such as MDG’s, the message from the UNEP Executive Director Marko Burglund reveals.