VIDEO: Caxton joins war against poaching
“We are in a war against poaching. One that will not be won in the field but in the boardrooms.”
Retired military general Johan Jooste has been appointed as head ranger at SANParks to spearhead the fight against rhino poaching.
The Middelburg Observer was part of a group of Caxton Journalists who went to visit the Kruger National Park over the weekend to brainstorm how the media can assist in the fight against rhino poaching.
Genl. Jooste painted a dire picture and told of drastic measures taken. “You get two types of generals, those who win and those who lose. I am not planning to lose.”
The southern part of the park, with the highest concentration of rhinos, will become a lock-down zone with “the mother of all fences” and ultra modern electronic technology.
This might not make it possible to keep all poachers out but genl. Jooste means that it will be very difficult to leave again once they have entered the park.
The poacher hacking of the horn is only the starting point in a long chain of criminals ending at an intelligent master brain in another country. Genl. Jooste says that poaching of rhinos has evolved from someone doing it to make a living to greedy criminals doing it to become rich.
The fight against poaching is not purely about saving an animal. It is about asking yourself what is being done with the magnitude of money generated by these crimes.
“This is worse than I thought,” Corne van Zyl of the Pretoria Rekord said when the group broke for tea.
The delicate balance between rhino population numbers, the catching, selling and redistributing of animals out of the Kruger National Park and other crucially important projects like the monitoring of the Olifants River was discussed.
Journalists got to see how the Kruger National Park Vetenary Wildlife Services dart, catch, gather samples and transport a rhino from the wild to a holding boma.
See Video here:
Here they are closely monitored. Rhinos get to listen to music because it was found that this makes them use to human noises and calms them.
If they do not adapt to lusern and captivity within two weeks, they are released back into the wild.
The Kruger National Park is currently seen as one of the most dangerous places for rhinos because it is close to the Mozambican border, harbors, airports and informal settlements
In an attempt to safeguard the KNP rhino population, animals are caught and redistributed to other areas.
This is done not only to provide an income for their custodians, it also ensures the future of these animals by protecting the gene pool, stimulating breeding in otherwise overcrowded populations and sending the animals to areas that are less accessible to poachers.
Caxton has registered the web domain www.fightagainstpoaching.co.za to be used as a vehicle to convey information to the greater public. This will be backed up by articles in print media. The website is currently under construction.
jana@mobserver.co.za
