A group of 19 critically endangered black rhinos have been moved from South Africa’s Eastern Cape to a new range in the Limpopo province to encourage increased breeding and population growth. The location is the seventh new habitat established by the WWF’s Black Rhino Range Expansion Project.
More here: panda.org/africa/rhino/?202250
Filmed by greenrenaissance.co.za for WWF-South Africa
A group of 19 critically endangered black rhinos have been moved from South Africa’s Eastern Cape to a new range in the Limpopo province to encourage increased breeding and population growth. The location is the seventh new habitat established by the WWF’s Black Rhino Range Expansion Project.
The helicopter trip lasts less than 10 minutes and enables a darted rhino to be removed from difficult and dangerous terrain. The sleeping animals suffer no ill effect.
More here: http://panda.org/rhino/?202250
All images: Michael Raimondo / WWF
Rhino horn demand leads to record poaching
More rhinos have been killed in South Africa in the past 10 months than were killed in all of 2010, new poaching numbers reveal. Statistics from South Africa National Parks show that 341 animals have been lost to poaching so far in 2011, compared to a record total of 333 last year.
South Africa’s grim milestone comes on the heels of an announcement by WWF last week that rhinos have gone extinct in Vietnam. The carcass of Vietnam’s last Javan rhino was found with a gunshot wound and without its horn.
At a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) last year, the international community concluded that the increase in rhino poaching has been caused largely by demand for horn products in Vietnam. Law enforcement efforts, while increasing, are not yet sufficient to protect rhinos from poachers or stop the smuggling and sale of their horns by organized crime rings.
In addition to being the biggest consumer of rhino horn, Vietnam is also a major market for tiger parts and other products derived from endangered species. Populations of tigers in the country are alarmingly low and could soon follow the Vietnamese Javan rhino into extinction.
Three out of five rhinos are critically endangered
Of the five species of rhinoceros, three are critically endangered. With the loss of the Vietnamese Javan rhino, there are now fewer than 50 Javan rhinos remaining, all in one national park in Indonesia.
South Africa has been the focal point of poaching because it has the largest population of rhinos in the world. Law enforcement efforts there have been scaled up resulting in more arrests, and some of those convicted are being sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
However, demand for medicinal products containing rhino horn continues to increase in Vietnam and other parts of Asia. Rhino horn has no proven ability to treat cancer and is no longer a part of the official Chinese traditional medicine pharmacopeia.
Governments must scale up their efforts
Despite an international ban on commercial trade under CITES, rhino horn continues to be smuggled illegally from Africa to Asia. Additionally, legal loopholes allowing for the export of rhino hunting trophies are being exploited in some South African provinces. Improvements are needed in the regulation of hunting permits and the management of rhino horn stock piles in the country.
In September a delegation of Vietnamese officials visited South Africa to discuss enhancing law enforcement cooperation between the two countries. Last year TRAFFIC facilitated a similar visit to Vietnam for South African authorities.
Vietnamese Javan rhino now extinct
On 25 October 2011, WWF and the International Rhino Foundation confirmed that the Javan rhinoceros in Vietnam is extinct.
The species was initially believed to be extinct in Vietnam until 1988, when a very small population was found still clinging to existance in Cat Tien National Park. Efforts were made to save this population but poor protection of its habitat ultimately led to its demise. The last Javan rhino in Vietnam was shot and killed in April 2010 and its horn removed.
It is WWF’s highest priority to save the remaining Javan rhinos in Indonesia and the other species in Vietnam – such as the tiger, Asian elephant and endemic species like the saola – that are all at risk of extinction unless law enforcement and protected area management significantly improves.
Dr Joseph Okori, head of WWF’s Rhino Programme in Africa, talks about the African rhino poaching crisis.
South Africa has lost at least 287 rhinos in 2011, including 16 or more critically endangered black rhinos. A majority of the poaching incidents have occurred in the world famous Kruger National Park, but privately owned rhinos have also been targeted. Law enforcement officials have made over 165 arrests so far during the year, and some convicted poachers have been sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.
Salute Rhino Heroes on World Rhino Day
It’s Rhino Day on 22 September.
This year, we’re saluting rhino heroes, the brave men and women who devote their lives to defending rhinos. Some of them lose their lives.
South Africa’s rhinos are still facing a poaching onslaught, caused by the illegal rhino horn trade driven by demand from Asia. Rhino poaching is often carried out by well-armed, international criminal syndicates using sophisticated technology.
More than 280 rhinos have already been killed by poachers this year.
The courageous effort of rhino heroes must be backed up at other levels. This includes making sure that those guilty of rhino crimes do not walk free on technicalities, and that punishment is commensurate with the crime.
In South Africa, officials have begun to conduct more rigorous prosecutions and impose stricter sentences. WWF has called for a corresponding commitment by countries in Asia where illegal demand for rhino horn is driving poachers.
Learn more about World Rhino Day and support WWF’s to protect rhinos
