Counter Poaching Efforts

Information & discussion on the Rhino Poaching Pandemic
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Lisbeth
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Re: Counter Poaching Efforts

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I come from a Kingdom, but the Zulu one is rather different lol

Years ago when we visited a Zulu village, we were not even told that there was a king -O- Maybe the guide thought that we knew O**


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Wilderness awakens the hearts and minds of young Vietnamese rhino ambassadors

01 September 2019

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Every two years the Wild Rhino Campaign brings students from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in Vietnam to South Africa to embark on, what they call, a life-changing experience. Aged between 14 and 17, most of these children live in cities that are completely disconnected from the natural world.

Wilderness Foundation Africa, in partnership with Peace Parks Foundation, Olsen Animal Trust and SOUL Music & Performing Arts Academy, launched the Wild Rhino Demand Reduction Campaign in 2014 to research, develop and implement a youth awareness and engagement programme to reduce the use of and demand for rhino horn in Vietnam.

"The demand for rhino horn in Vietnam is one of the main drivers of rhino poaching. Initially, we worked with South African agencies to develop awareness products that we could distribute in Vietnam, but we quickly realised that because the use of wildlife products stems from deep-seated cultural beliefs, we needed to work with the Vietnamese to develop solutions that would be culturally relevant and accepted."

Matthew Norval, Chief Operations Officer, Wilderness Foundation Africa

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Working with 11 international schools in Ho Chi Minh City and three in Hanoi, the Wild Rhino Demand Reduction Campaign runs a competition every two years in which entrants can win a trip to South Africa to partake in a true wilderness experience. The purpose of this is to nurture awareness, insight, empathy and understanding, allowing these young students to return home as dedicated and informed ambassadors for conservation and rhino protection.

At the same time, this exchange encourages communication between those who are exposed to friends or family members using products such as rhino horn and conservation experts who are working to stop the illegal trafficking of wildlife products.

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This year, junior students were invited to enter either a poem or a picture, while seniors wrote essays presenting innovative and practical plans to educate their friends and families on how to end the demand for rhino horn. “Upon entering the competition, I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would win. When I did, I was torn between accepting the prize and going on this amazing adventure, or turning it down and focusing on my schoolwork. My father motivated me to accept, saying it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I am so happy I did!” said Tran Thy Uyên My, a student from the Asian International School in Hanoi.

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The students embarked on a five-day hike in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Province which took them deep into the African wilderness, without any technology to distract them. Tran says, “My friends all said that they would die if they had to be without their phones and access to the Internet for that long!”

Ian Read, a wilderness Leadership School guide, says that it was a truly humbling experience to see the children connect to their natural environment. “In a way, you could see them completely disconnecting from the modern world while finding a deep sense of belonging in a place that is far removed from where they grew up.”

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Upon returning from their wilderness trail adventure, students took part in a two-day workshop to explore how they would embrace their task as rhino ambassadors. A moving presentation by wildlife veterinarian, Dr William Fowlds, gave students a glimpse into the realities of poaching, showing both the brutality of the act of killing a rhino and the passion of those who are deeply committed to saving them. Students were cautioned not to accept responsibility for those who consumed rhino products. Ian said, “What you see here does not belong to you. It is not your fault. Don’t go home with fear and anger, those are the tactics used by those who harm rhino. We fight this with what you gained in your hearts over the last few days. Hold on to that.”

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On their final morning together, students were invited to present their ideas to the group. Matthew motivated them to think big while keeping in mind that they would be responsible for implementing ideas that were accepted. The students brought to the table some strong ideas, from big music concerts and engaging with religious organisations that prescribed rhino horn powder to followers, to inexpensive social media campaigns that would target youngsters within their age groups. As part of the Wild Rhino Youth Ambassador component of the campaign, the young people will be supported to pursue some of these ideas in their schools and communities.

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Most noticeable was the enthusiasm with which they embraced their new-found mission to save the rhino. “Poaching rhino is destroying our planet and us humans. Preserving rhino is our responsibility. Not tomorrow, today is the time to save rhinos.” says Le Duong Minh Ha.

Wild Rhino Demand Reduction Campaign

The campaign uses three interlinked components to educate and engage Vietnamese youth on the issue of rhino poaching. These include the Wild Rhino Competition, the Youth Ambassador Awareness and Education Campaign, and the Rhino Ranger Superhero Campaign. Each of these aims to ignite a passion for conservation and motivate young people to speak out against rhino horn use and the illegal wildlife trade by becoming ambassadors for the cause within their communities. The Wild Rhino Demand Reduction Campaign has been active since the launch of the first Wild Rhino Competition in 2014 and has reached about 25 000 Vietnamese youth directly, and nearly 1 million indirectly through campaign and youth ambassador social media activities.


Rhino Protection Programme

Peace Parks Foundation provides support to the Wild Rhino Campaign through the Rhino Protection Programme – a multi-faceted programme that focuses on developing and implementing practical, well-considered methods through which to combat the poaching of rhino, as well as disrupt the supply, demand and illegal trafficking of rhino horn. The programme is implemented under the auspices of the South African Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) in partnership with South African National Parks (SANParks), Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and Peace Parks Foundation, and is made possible through funding from the Dutch and Swedish postcode lotteries as well as other private donors.


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Lisbeth
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Re: Counter Poaching Efforts

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If I don't error the same programme took place last year or two years ago -O-

Since the 2014 launch of the first Wild Rhino Competition in 11 participating private/international schools in Ho Chi Minh City, the campaign has reached about 25 000 Vietnamese youth directly, and nearly 1 million youth indirectly, through campaign and youth ambassador social media activities. As from 2018, the campaign has also rolled out to two schools in Hanoi.

https://www.peaceparks.org/rhinoprotect ... novietnam/


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Re: Counter Poaching Efforts

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Another good move by Mocambique:

http://www.anac.gov.mz/en/maputo-specia ... -poachers/

MAPUTO SPECIAL RESERVE DESTROYS WEAPONS RECOVERED FROM POACHERS

The Maputo Special Reserve (MSR), in Matutuíne district of Maputo province, destroyed, last Friday, 38 weapons of different calibers recovered from poachers, which 26 are homemade and 12 conventional.
The event was witnessed by representatives of National Administration of Conservation Areas, the District Attorney’s Office, the PRM Commando in Matutuíne, community leaders and the reserve management team.
According to the MSR administration, the initiative aims to prevent the same weapons from re-circulating in the world of wildlife crime, undermining ongoing efforts to protect biodiversity in that reserve.
Some of the destroyed weapons were delivered voluntarily to the MSR in sensitization meetings to communities living inside the reserve and in buffer zone regarding the need to combat poaching, and others were abandoned by criminals during the pursuit actions by groups of rangers in their routine patrolling operations.
Another amount of non-quantified weapons recovered from poachers held by reserve’s rangers was handed over to the PRM Commando in Matutuíne to serve as evidence of the crime. Even these, the district attorney’s office has initiated efforts to persuade the police to make them available to be equally destroyed.
The management of national parks and reserves will continue working to reduce significantly the crime rate against wildlife, either by improving research methods or by applying the conservation law which punishes, not only poachers, but also constituents and who possess products resulting from illegal hunting.
In fact, in mid-August, the National Administration of Conservation Areas organized, in Maputo, a workshop to train rangers from parks and reserves in order to improve their technical capacity to identify evidence at the scene of crime regarding the fight against poaching and illegal trade of wildlife products.
At the time, the General Director of ANAC, Mateus Mutemba, said to be happy with the level of collaboration between the management of conservation areas and prosecutors and judges in the fight against environmental crimes, resulting in the conviction of poachers to prison sentence of 9 to 12 years.


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Re: Counter Poaching Efforts

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\O

The weapons, tusks and horns regularly get stolen from govt. storage facilities there... O-/


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Not only "there" I have heard O**


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SA teen wins international photography award for rhino dehorning shot

2019-09-26 07:00

Fred Kockott and Mlu Mdletshe, GroundUp



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Kgaugelo Neville Ngomane from Bushbuckridge holds the photo that won the Young Environmental Photographer of the Year Award. (Wild Shot Outreach)


Nineteen-year-old Kgaugelo Neville Ngomane won a prestigious environmental photographic competition, GroundUp reported.

Ngomane's powerful image of a rhino dehorning, titled Desperate Measures, was picked from more than 4 000 international entries by the judges who commended its storytelling and photographic merit.

The judges said: "When his photo flashed up on screen, there was a sharp intake of breath around the judging room; it's such a powerful image."

The Young Environmental Photographer of the Year Award is run by the international Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management (Ciwem).

On learning that he'd won, the unemployed teenager from Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, said: "Winning this competition means a lot, because I love photography. But I don't just want to win, I want to make a difference. It is not easy to watch such an iconic animal being dehorned. I hope this picture will make a lot of people see what we have to do to save our rhinos and then support conservation."

'Access to their natural heritage'

Ngomane is a graduate of Wild Shots Outreach – a Hoedspruit-based non-profit organisation that teaches wildlife photography to young people from poor communities.

The programme prioritises high school students from government schools and unemployed young people bordering the Kruger Park.

"Despite living right next door to a national park, 99% of these young people have never had access to their natural heritage and have never seen Africa's iconic wildlife," said Wild Shots Outreach founder and director, Mike Kendrick.

"This award is a fantastic accolade for Neville, for Wild Shots Outreach, for the communities and all the young people I work with," added Kendrick.

"They have developed pride in their images, pride in their stories, pride in themselves and a pride in their natural heritage – a natural heritage which has previously been hard for them to access."

"Can we hope that images like Neville’s will capture the imaginations of communities like his, which border the Greater Kruger Park? And can photos like this bring people a better understanding of the drastic measures being used to conserve the iconic wildlife which we hold so precious?" asked Kendrick.

Kendrick said that Ngomane's award winning photo was made possible by a rhino conservation charity, Rhino Revolution, which had the "foresight and vision to invite Wild Shots Outreach students to attend and document the dehorning of their wild rhino on a private reserve outside Hoedspuit, in Limpopo."

Although an unpleasant experience for the rhino, dehorning is like cutting one's fingernails and the horn will grow back, said Kendrick. "Desperate times call for desperate measures and dehorning is a last-ditch attempt to deter the poaching of rhinos."

The presentation of CIWEM's Young Environmental Photographer of the Year Award coincided with this week's World Youth WildLife Summit hosted by the Southern African Wildlife College in the Kruger National Park.

Before the summit, 20 young people from rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape were selected to take part in a National Geographic Photo Camp in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Park and other Project Rhino reserves, including Somkhanda and Manyoni. They learned skills from world-class photographers while immersed in the wilderness.

"We came face to face with wild game and took photographs with meaning," said 17-year-old Monique Keganediste from Nongoma, whose photo of a Somkhanda Game Reserve anti-poaching ranger, Bhotsotso Hebron Gumbi, formed part of a photo essay at the summit.

This story was produced for GroundUp by Roving Reporters.

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https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News ... t-20190926


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Re: Counter Poaching Efforts

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Nice to hear that young people from the communities get a chance to know and understand their heritage. Maybe the next generation will be better prepared \O


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A powerful image. ^Q^


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