 Your new post is loading...
KwaZulu-Natal - The fight against rhino poaching is heading into the future. A Johannesburg based company is taking surveillance technology to new heights, and it’s all locally made. Drones are being used to keep watch from the skies, allowing for faster incident response. The pilot project has already yielded positive results at the Hluhluwe iMfolozi Game Park in KwaZulu-Natal, who haven't had a poaching since February. eNCA.com went to witness the project in action. CLICK here to watch VIDEO: http://www.enca.com/south-africa/fight-against-rhino-poaching-gets-hi-tech
Customs officers at Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat Airport seized more than five kilograms of rhino horn allegedly smuggled in by a passenger Monday, two weeks after Vietnam and South Africa agreed to an action plan to curb rhino poaching.
D.V.S, a 31-year-old man, was caught with six pieces of horns in his suitcase after arriving on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Europe.
He claimed to have brought the horns for making medicines to treat ailments and that he did not know their value...
William and Charles go to war...to save Kate's romantic paradise as African idyll where Royal couple got engaged is besieged by poachersPrince William described the months he spent at Lewa, Kenya during his gap year in 2001 as one of the ‘happiest times of my lifeDuchess of Cambridge described her trip to the country as 'so romantic'Prince William is said to be 'sickened and saddened by the rhinos being killed'... The informer called at noon. He said five poachers would shortly be entering a forested corner of the Lewa wildlife conservancy in northern Kenya, close to where a rhino and her calf were shot in February.
Silea Legei, deputy commander of Lewa’s security force, hurried to the spot with 11 rangers. They hid in the long grass beside an animal track leading from the trees, and waited.
The poachers arrived shortly after 3pm. One carried a semi-automatic, another a bow with poisoned arrows. That was justification enough for the rangers. They opened fire. The armed poacher shot back. During the gun battle, a terrified rhinoceros raced past the men who had come to slaughter it. When the shooting stopped, four poachers lay dead, their blood trickling into the dirt. The fifth had fled.
The jubilant rangers showed no pity for the poachers Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2326675/William-Charles-war--save-Kates-romantic-paradise-African-idyll-Royal-couple-got-engaged-besieged-poachers.html#ixzz2Trx8W7Uj ;
Fourteen rhino have been killed in a space of 24 hours bringing the tally of rhino killed for their horn to 327 in South Africa since January. The tally includes seven rhinos that had already been dehorned but were killed for their stumps in the Machadadorp area, five were adults, two calves; two in the Thabazimbi area and two in the Vaalwater area.
Dehorning rhino has been seen as a way to protect these gentle herbivores, but the horn does slowly grow back and the extortionate price of rhino horn on the black market, up to £40,000 per kilo, means that even the smallest scrappings are of value to the poachers.
This sudden upsurge on top of the already devastating wave of poaching may be a result of the trade talks at the recent CITES meeting with traders anticipating a lift on the trade ban and stockpiling in preparation. Whatever the motive, this horrendous wave of slaughter in South Africa now seems to be out of control.
"This latest news is a great sadness to us but we will continue our fight to save the rhino in Africa and Asia to ensure its survival for future generations," says DSWF CEO, Sally Case.
An environmental organisation has launched a mobile game to raise awareness on the scourge of rhino poaching.
Vinh Chuong “Jimmy” Kha, 50, and Felix Kha 26, were sentenced today in federal district court in Los Angeles to serve 42 and 46 months, respectively, in prison for crimes related to illegal international trafficking of rhinoceros horn, announced Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice and André Birotte Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. In addition to the prison sentences, the two defendants were ordered to pay a total of $20,000 in criminal fines and pay a $185,000 tax fraud penalty and assessment. In addition, Jimmy Kha’s Win Lee Corporation was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine. Jimmy and Felix Kha, along with Win Lee Corporation, were also ordered to pay a total of $800,000 in restitution to the Multinational Species Conservation Fund, a statutorily created fund that is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to support international efforts to protect and conserve rhinos and other critically endangered species around the world. The defendants previously abandoned their portion of interest in $2 million worth of rhino parts and vehicles seized in the investigation....
JOHANNESBURG - A rhino poacher has been wounded in a shootout with rangers in the Pretoriuskop section of the Kruger National Park. Three poachers were confronted by rangers on Tuesday night which led to a shootout after which two poachers were caught and the third managed to escape. SANPark's Ike Phaahla said, “A rifle, ammunition and an axe were found in their possession. The third suspect unfortunately managed to escape.” The two men will appear in court on Thursday. Over 200 rhino have been poached since the beginning of 2013. On Monday, three men appeared in court in KwaZulu-Natal for rhino poaching. The trio was arrested last week in the Nisela Nature Reserve after an unlicensed firearm and 10 rounds of ammunition were found in their vehicle. At least 668 rhino were poached throughout the country during 2012.
A Limerick Traveller facing prosecution in Austria in connection with the theft of rhino horns, has had his case further adjourned at the High Court.
Durban - Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife has given the green light for a R4-million sponsorship of two anti-rhino poaching helicopters as well as securing two fixed-wing aircraft to bolster the fight against the onslaught of rhino poaching in KZN.... The money allows for the upgrading of one helicopter, sourced from King Shaka Aviation, to a bigger one that will cover an expanded area around Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP)....
What do gold, platinum and rhino horn have in common? They are among the most expensive materials in the world... In order to prevent poaching preemptively, the Rhino Rescue Project (RRP) was born. Its founders Ed and Lorinda Hern of the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve in Krugersdorp developed together with veterinarian Charles van Niekerk a device that injects red dye into rhino horns.
Yes, it is exactly the kind of indelible dye that is used for ruining bank robbers’ prey and tagging the thieves. RRP’s spokeswoman Lorinda Hern didn’t want to share the exact name of the product due to security reasons, but it is known that it works similar as industry products like Disperse Red 9, which also goes under the name of 1-methylamino anthraquinone...
Arrests for rhino poaching in South Africa increased considerably this week, with 11 alleged poachers arrested in the eastern half of the country. SANParks said eight of the 11 people arrested this week were caught during joint operations. Since 1 January 2013, 292 rhinos have been poached. The Kruger National park continues to be the worst hit, with 216 rhinos poached. 23 rhinos have been poached in North West Province, 20 in KwaZulu-Natal, 19 in Limpopo and 14 in Mpumalanga. Since January, 94 people have been caught for poaching rhino and smuggling rhino horn. 44 alleged poachers have been arrested in the Kruger National Park, 20 in Limpopo, 13 in KwaZulu-Natal, 8 in North West Province, 6 in Mpumalanga and 3 in Gauteng....
FOUR suspected poachers who killed a rhino a month ago have been given a Sh1 million bond each by a Nanyuki court.
Ninety-four people have been arrested for rhino poaching and smuggling rhino horn since the start of 2013, the environmental affairs department has said.
|
The conservation and protection of Rhinos is set to be intensified in KwaZulu-Natal following a donation of R1.2 million.
Eleven rhino have been poached in KwaZulu-Natal in the past 20 days, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife said on Tuesday. The carcasses of eight rhino, seven white and one black, were found in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. Six were recently shot on the park's western shores, and the other two along the eastern shores. Two white rhino were found dead in the uMsuluzi Community Conservation Area, near Colenso. The other rhino, which was reported a week ago, was killed in the Weenen Nature Reserve. Ezemvelo CEO Bandile Mkhize said this was "depressing". However, he would keep working to tighten security. "We will not drop our heads. However heartsore I feel today, we will fight with everything we've got to track down these criminals....
Guerrilla tactics and clandestine intelligence gathering are being used in the fight against rhino poachers in the Kruger National Park. With AK47-wielding poachers waging an "insurgency-like war" in their hunt for rhino horns, rangers have had to adopt military-style tactics to counter the slaughter.... No longer just guides and conservationists, rangers are being intensively trained in counter-insurgency warfare. Trained to track, ambush, gather intelligence and wage counter-assault operations, the rangers are being taught the arts of war. Lemmer said the dangers of fighting poachers were huge. "The rangers put their lives at risk." He said so dangerous were poachers that rangers were undergoing paramilitary training to enable them to survive....
Technology originally developed for military and security use, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, could be used as another weapon in the fight against rhino poaching, according to Saab. Jerker..
The biggest rhino sale in South Africa this year had the feel of a clandestine gathering yesterday as potential rhino buyers secretly made their bids - to avoid their farms being targeted by poachers....
Good intelligence is at the heart of every successful military operation and efforts to tip the balance in favour of those fighting to prevent the wholesale slaughter of rhinos are being boosted by..
If you guessed “China,” you were wrong. The answer is Vietnam. The country’s appetite for rhino horn is so great that it now fetches up to $100,000/kg, ($300,000 per horn) making it worth more than its weight in gold. (Horns average around 1-3 kg each, depending on the species.)
The defenders of Africa's rhinos are battling a well-financed and well-informed enemy. Poachers clear $40,000 or more for a single rhino horn.... It says a lot about the state of the war against poachers in Africa that the Lewa Conservancy, a private sanctuary in Kenya with 12 percent of the country's rhinos, recently appointed a CEO who has never studied zoology or biology. Instead, Mike Watson is an ex-captain in the British army. His training has already come in handy. Take, for instance, a visit to a crime scene earlier this year: a rhino carcass splayed out in the mud.... Read or Listen http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/05/14/183914773/The-Enemy-Inside-Rhinos-Protectors-Sometimes-Aid-Poachers
Kay Burley: If we let poachers win the battle with rhinos in South Africa, these magnificent creatures will soon be no more
Tiger bones, rhinoceros horn and bear bile, oh my! Unfortunately, sometimes these things come to mind when people hear about traditional Chinese medicine. While it’s true that these have all been used as TCM herbs, thankfully in North America they are illegal to use or sell. Rhino horns are thought to improve virility for men. It doesn’t. But, some things that do have similar characteristics to human anatomy do have actual physical effect on the twin part. For example, walnuts look like brains, and their omega-3 fatty acids do support brain health. The diuretic Chinese herb qu mai is the stem of a plant that looks like a urinary tube and thus, it is used to treat urinary tract infections. But rhino horns are best left on the magnificent beasts....
If you sign this petition it will show that we will not tolerate the horrific needless slaughtering of animals outside of our country.
Discovery Communications has picked up two wildlife documentaries from independent UK producer and distributor Power to air across Europe on its Animal Planet channel.
|
