Rhino Relocations

[Bushcraft]

The menu is getting monotonous

Agreed

[RobertT]

They are trying to tell us 1 individual did a 60 million rand deal and sold 260 rhino, without the board and the rest of the executive knowing.

It is a corporate/parastatal, you cannot even pass wind without getting permission from higher up.

They must call Mac in as he at least tries to make things believable in a far fetched way.

[H. erectus]

KNP starts to move rhinos
Friday 29 August 2014 20:22

SABC

More than 700 rhino have been killed in the country this year alone. (SABC)

Tags:
Kruger National ParkEdna Molewa announcedRhino
A process to relocate rhinos from the Kruger National Park is underway. Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa announced earlier this month that around 500 rhinos will either be sold or relocated to other national parks, to curb spiraling illegal poaching of the animals.


She said that relocations from the Kruger and the creation of rhino strongholds, could allow the total rhino population size of South Africa to continue to grow.


The South African National Parks (SANParks) spokesperson Reynold Thakhuli says small numbers of the animals are being relocated.



Thakhuli says some of the rhino are being sold to hunting farms but the details are not available to the media. He says this is a normal practice for SANParks.



“I think it needs to be understood that you know game farms who practice hunting, they do it through a recognized system as hunting is a legal activity in South Africa.”


SANParks has stressed that safety should be considered during the relocation. More than 700 rhino have been killed in the country this year.

[H. erectus]

Allison Thomson‎Outraged SA Citizens against Poaching:13 mins · .Have just been told that the 3 hunting safaris that purchased the 260 Rhinos from SANParks received documents on Friday informing them that the sale agreements were null and void. I can only presume that all hell is going to break loose soon.

[Duke]

Go figure

LINK

August 30, 2014 / Gavrielle Kirk-Cohen

The story of South African National Parks (SANParks) selling 260 rhinos to private land owners in the Northern Cape has grabbed the attention of the media and caused outrage amongst conservationists as it is believed the rhinos were sold to hunting farms.

The alleged sale of 260 rhino is believed to be part of SANParks plan to relocate 500 rhino from its parks to “safe locations.” There has been a lot of controversy surrounding this decision as SANParks originally denied the announcement of the rhino evacuation, but South African Minster of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, then reconfirmed it. “A decision has been made on this issue of translocation,” said Edna Molewa, “Relocations from the Kruger National Park and the creation of rhino strongholds could allow the total rhino population size of South Africa to continue to grow.” However, it has been reported on the 23rd of August that the rhinos will no longer be moved to “safe locations” this year. “We have missed the window to remove the animals because it is now getting warmer. The best time to move them is in winter,” says spokesman Isaac Phaahla.

Amid mounting pressure from conservation groups and an alleged investigation into SANParks, the SANParks Board have released a media statement saying they had nothing to do with the transaction of 260 rhinos to hunting safaris, blaming it instead on a member of the SANParks Executive who acted on his own initiative and without the knowledge of the SANParks board. The alleged perpetrator has been suspended, pending disciplinary action and an independent forensic audit has been commissioned to look into the problem. The statement makes no mention of who was responsible for the sale, however Edna Molewa has announced previously that senior SANParks Executive, Hector Magome has been suspended because of “issues” with the procedure that were followed after the sale of the rhinos.

According to the statement released by SANParks, on the 29th of August, the Board claims they have never approved any decision to sell rhinos: “The SANParks Board has been constantly engaging with experts and stakeholders on the issue of combatting rhino poaching since the current poaching crisis emerged, as well as developing and implementing responses.” The Board held a strategic workshop in July of this year to formulate a new and amended rhino management strategy. The Board is now ready to finalise its strategy to combat rhino poaching. Kuseni Dlamini, Chairman of SANParks has said “The Board has now made a decision to, inter alia, move some rhinos out of high risk areas or areas with too high densities of rhinos. These movements may include movements within parks, between parks, to provincial reserves, community areas or private areas.” This is however entirely dependant on the approval by the SANParks Board and the Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa.

An article by I O L however, states that SA National Parks have sold 354 rhinos since 2010 for a sum of just over R81-million (£4,5million). This is equivalent to an average of just under R230 000 (£13 000) per rhino. Edna Molewa, following parliamentary questions by DA spokesperson on environmental affairs, Terri Stander, disclosed these figures.

Molewa has said the money received from the sale of the rhinos has gone into a dedicated Park Development Fund. “This fund is used by SANParks for numerous conservation-related projects including the acquisition of land for inclusion into national parks; research projects relevant to national parks; scientific reports; and community beneficiation projects.”

A few hours after the statement was released by SANParks, an article by SABC news claims the Kruger National Park has already started moving small numbers of rhinos. Reynold Thakhuli, spokesperson for SANParks has said some rhinos have been sold to hunting farms and it is considered normal practice for SANParks. He also said that the details of the rhino relocations are not available to the media.“I think it needs to be understood that you know game farms who practice hunting, they do it through a recognized system as hunting is a legal activity in South Africa,” says Thakhuli.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has already raised concerns about the sale of the rhinos to hunting farms in the Northern Cape, saying that whilst rhino poaching in the Northern Cape is not on a grand scale they are however worried that the translocation of 260 rhinos to the area could change this, unless stringent anti-poaching measures are put in place.

[Mel]

Interesting that Thakhuli would kind of defend the fact that rhinos are being sold to hunting farms although the sale of 260 rhinos to such a place was allegedly an act of a single person of the Board not approved by its entity.

Go figure

Oh, yes...

[H. erectus]

SANParks official speaks out on rhino ‘sale’
2014-08-31 13:00
Johannesburg - Confusion around the SANParks sale and removal of 260 rhinos has deepened after the man accused of making an unauthorised decision to sell the Kruger Park animals has spoken out in his defence.

According to the Sunday Times, Dr Hector Magome was suspended as SANParks’ head of conservation in June after allegedly arranging to sell 260 rhinos without permission.

Magome spoke out however, after SANParks board member Gert Dry said last week that “... in a number of media ... articles, it is incorrectly stated that SANParks has sold 260 rhinos to private land owners in the Northern Cape”.

Magome said that this remark has forced him to defend his integrity.

“In this sad saga, rhinos and South Africa are the only losers. The 500 rhinos that could have been removed this year remain trapped in the Kruger in a raging war of bullets,” he said.

Following months of speculation regarding the sale and removal of hundreds of Kruger rhinos, Dry says no sales were authorised.

However Northern Cape game farmer Wiaan van der Linde and retail tycoon Christo Wiese, allegedly paid a R16m deposit eight months ago to buy 240 rhinos collectively. Van der Linde said his contract for rhinos was worth R40m and that SANParks had assessed his farm and issued transport permits for the animals. Last week however, he received notification that his contract was “null and void”, he said.

Moving rhino

Magome, who was involved in the deal, says he acted with full authority at the time. He says he has been involved in numerous sales of rhinos over the years and at no stage has the board objected. Now suddenly he is “the bad guy”, he says.

Meanwhile, last week, Sapa reported that rhino at the Kruger National Park will not be moved to safety this year.

"We have missed the window to remove the animals because it is now getting warmer. The best time to move them is in winter," spokesperson Isaac Phaahla from SANParks told Sapa.

He said a project plan had been developed but it was still with the board of SanParks, waiting approval.
"Once approved, the plan will be implemented," he said.

Phaahla said the rationale behind the move was to grow the number of the animals while at the same time preserving their safety.

He said a lot of work would go into investigating the places where the animals would be kept.

"The animals will only be moved to an area where they will be properly looked after and protected from poachers. They will only be moved to areas where there is expertise for their well-being," he said.

"The move will probably happen next year."

Security risks

On 12 August , Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa announced that rhino along the eastern boundary of the Kruger National Park would be moved to strongholds both inside and outside the flagship reserve to protect them from poachers.

She said her department was also looking at moving some rhino out of the country.

"Part of the translocation will include the Southern African Development Community, the SADC area in particular... We have already started discussions with Botswana, we are working with Zambia, we are working with other countries, but more intensely those two in particular," she said at the time.

A week later, Molewa announced that SA National Parks (SANParks) has made over R80m following the sale of 354 rhino since 2010.

Replying in writing to a parliamentary question, Molewa said she could not reveal who the rhino were sold to due to "exposure and security risks", but said the money from the sales would be pumped into various conservation projects.

"SANParks accumulates all income from the sale of animals in a special fund called the Park Development Fund," she said.

"This fund is used by SANParks for numerous conservation-related projects, including acquisition of land for inclusion into national parks, research projects in the biophysical and social sciences relevant to national parks, scientific reports, and community beneficiation projects."

Some food for thought.. Oi.,,

[Lisbeth]

It is the same thing over and over again, there is nothing new nor in this post nor in the last and probably not in the one before these two. Nothing wrong in posting them though. Someone might not have read the former ones

[Seiont]

This is all so sad. Lack of proper Governance, process, openness and transparency with no clear conservation objective - other than making some money. It smells very bad from here and all the while Rhinos are at risk. Shame on you SANParks.

[Duke]

From the OSCAP site

Draft Notes of meeting from17 October 2013. Apparently the draft notes were approved and signed.