Statistics on Rhino poaching, courtesy of www.stoprhinopoaching.com, highlight that 158 rhinos have already been killed this year.
At the beginning of the 20th century more than 100 000 rhinoceroses walked the planet. Today, the figure has been whittled down to a mere 18 000, largely because of mass poaching and hunting around the world. South Africa, which houses the highest population of rhinos, is fighting a difficult battle to fend off poachers. Prof Moses Montesh, at Unisa’s College of Law has done extensive research at the Kruger National Park and Mozambique on this issue and held a symposium, Rhino poaching: A new form of organised crime on 22 March to discuss his findings.
Asian countries such as Vietnam and China value a rhino’s horn for its supposed medicinal properties. This has caused a huge influx of poachers who come to South Africa to hunt rhino in the wild or at the country’s several game parks. Montesh’s presentation focused on several aspects such as syndicates, methods of prevention in rhino poaching, the historical background and the link between poaching and organised crime.
He revealed that South Africa has a sordid history of poaching with the then National Defence Force being heavily involved with the killing and smuggling of rhino and other animals in the 1970s. This was largely to fund the war efforts against Angola and Mozambique.
Despite China, Taiwan and South Korea all imposing internal rhino horn trade bans, South Africa and Zimbabwe currently account for around 95% of poaching in Africa. “Rhino crime syndicates operate multi-nationally and are known to be involved in other high-risk criminal activities such as drug and diamond smuggling, vehicle theft, armed robberies and ATM bombings,” he says. According to Montesh, what’s even more worrying is the fact that not all those linked to the rhino horn trade belong to the criminal class. Vietnam’s diplomatic community has taken a direct involvement with the crime. “The involvement of embassy personnel first came to light when Vietnam’s Commercial Attaché, Khanh Toan Nguyen, was arrested in April 2006 with two rhino horns, as well as diamonds and large sums of cash. Under interrogation, he allegedly indicated that he had used a diplomatic bag to move rhino horn on previous occasions,” Montesh says.
Authorities believe several criminal syndicates are being operated in South Africa with Vietnamese nationals currently working with locals, conservation officials and businessmen. Some syndicates use legitimate hunting licences but often breach the quota of animals that they are allowed to kill. Mozambique nationals also cross the border to poach rhinos and other animals. After visiting and investigating various national parks in Mozambique, Montesh revealed that the country had hunted and killed their rhino population to the point of extinction and did not believe that what they had done was wrong. “When I spoke to people there, they said to me that you South Africans believe this is poaching but we believe it’s hunting,” he says.
With rhino horns fetching thousands of dollars on international markets, it’s highly unlikely that the trade will abate. Montesh says there are several recommendations to curtail rhino poaching. These include heightened security by increasing personnel, added cameras, perimeter fences, and roving vehicle patrols, with the most controversial being the legalising and regulation of the rhino horn trade. “Proponents of legal trade in rhino horn accept that demand for rhino horn clearly exists in Asia and believe that meeting this demand with some form of legal supply may be far more effective than attempting to enforce a continued prohibition on the trade,” he says. However, he also accepts another school of thought from commentators who believe that any form of trade or sustainable utilisation of wildlife is inherently wrong and should never be tolerated. South African National Parks has also investigated the idea of using unmanned air drones to monitor the large expanses of some of the parks.
Despite many of the proposals that have been put forward, Montesh believes two key aspects need to change in order to curtail rhino poaching. The first is that legislation on the protection wildlife needs to change and the second is that investigation authorities need to infiltrate syndicates. “None of our legislation specifically deals with rhino poaching and it has been dealt with in a very scattered manner. The eyes of the world are clearly upon South Africa now, creating a unique opportunity to demonstrate leadership in ensuring the conservation of rhinos globally. Failure in this regard will certainly seriously damage South Africa’s conservation reputation and prestige as an ecotourism destination,” Montesh says.
