AS far as I am concerned, and remember that this is fundamentally an environmental column, the horror story of rhino and elephant poaching remains the story of the year. The latest rhino statistics for 2013 are now at hand*, and the indications are that by the time you read this, more than 800 rhino will have been slaughtered for their horns in South Africa alone, and there are still two months of the year to go. This figure is based on the official rhino death toll as at October 3, when the total stood at 725, with 444 of those being in the Kruger National Park.
The level of poaching would appear to be accelerating, an interesting point arrived at by my fellow columnist in the Cape Times, Tony Weaver, who writes, “I have argued before in this column against the legalisation of the trade in rhino horn as a way of undercutting the market, and I was glad to see this week that the influential Environmental Investigation Agency supports this view.
The Agency said this week that ‘the poaching of rhinos in South Africa has increased by more than three rhinos a week on average since the Environmental Minister, Edna Molewa, called for a legal international trade in rhino horn’. EIA head, Allan Thornton said: “South Africa’s policy signal to the global market place that rhino horn is a smart investment commodity is unleashing a tsunami of destruction of South Africa’s rhinos”. Thank you, Tony, and the EIA.
On the subject of ivory, and by the way, Africa is now losing four elephants an hour to poaching, there is some good news, apparently: the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)** has been running an ivory information campaign in China for the past three years with some very interesting results.
China is by far the biggest market for the world’s poached ivory (and rhino horn, incidentally) and apparently 70 percent of the Chinese interviewed thought that elephants dropped their tusks like humans lose their teeth, they had no idea that ivory comes from dead elephants. Very interestingly, having been informed of the facts, 66 percent said they would not buy ivory again. IFAW believes its campaign is having a significant impact on thinking in China. Well, again, thank you IFAW.
Perhaps, as is so often the case in these situations, the answer lies in a multi-pronged approach. IFAW’s education campaign is quite remarkable and perhaps that way of thinking, and acting, could be picked up by other organisations and governments in problem countries, both as far as ivory and rhino horn are concerned.
Law enforcement needs to be stepped up and regionally co-ordinated in countries that have the poaching problems. Justice needs to be swift and hard, and not just for the little guys at the bottom, but for the syndicate bosses as well, if they are ever found. And that comes round to corruption; it is as much a war against corruption as it is against poaching and consumption.
We also need luck, lots of luck. Cheers!
* Rhino Watch Organisation.
** Save the Elephants News Service.
