Counter Poaching Efforts

[Richprins]

Brilliant! And a great band!

[PennyinSA]

This sends shivers down my spine as to who has "bought"this permit and what their intentions are!

http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/agricu ... or-buffalo

[Richprins]

Very interesting!



ONE of South Africa’s largest rhino sales will go ahead in Limpopo on Wednesday as a local farmer clears his stock of 47 rhino to make way for more lucrative buffalo.

Buffalo prices have soared in recent years. In September a bull named Mystery was sold for a record R40m.

Mystery was sold to a consortium that included luxury goods billionaire Johann Rupert. The bull’s horn spread was 135.6cm.

The sale overshadowed by far the previous record of R26m and left in the dust the R20m paid in 2012 for a buffalo cow for which African National Congress deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa bid R19.5m. These bulls had all been bought to improve the bloodstock of large-horn buffalo.

"At the end of the day, ja, it’s for hunting, (but) they are trying to breed back the buffalo with 60-inch (152.4cm) horns that were available in the 1940s and 1950s," Riempies Victor, marketer for game auctioneers Vleissentraal Bosveld, said on Tuesday.

Foreign hunters spent R1.24bn in South Africa in 2012, according to research conducted by North West University and commissioned by the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa.

Limpopo game farmer Johan van Zyl’s sale of 47 rhino comes amid unprecedented escalation in their poaching. Already 310 rhino have been killed by poachers this year, representing a massive rise from the average of 15 a year before 2008.

A record 1,004 rhino were lost last year.

Rhino horn is sought after in East Asia, where it fetches prices of up to $60,000/kg. It is viewed there as a status symbol and a general panacea.

Mr van Zyl, who in the past has lost five rhino to poachers, said he was not selling because of poaching, but because they did not achieve the same price per hectare as buffalo. "I had to decide, price per hectare, which was a better investment, and buffalo bring in more per hectare ."

Mr van Zyl said he would use his earnings to buy buffalo cows with a horn spread wider than 76.3cm. He expected to make about R350,000-R400,000 on a rhino cow, and to pay up to R5m for a buffalo cow with a 86.35cm horn spread.

"I expect sales, people are buying in anticipation of legal (rhino) horn trade," he said.

South Africa is to apply to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora for permission to legally sell rhino horn.

Mr Victor said rhino were still selling and the price had gone up since about 2012. Before that it dropped radically as poaching made them expensive in terms of security requirements.

It was now more difficult to get open bidding on the animals as buyers were reluctant to have their name linked with rhino.

[PennyinSA]

I am extremely concerned at the manner in which firstly this announcement was made ie via the media. Secondly there are many unanswered questions that this article raises - not least of which where did this horn come from and thirdly and possibly the most telling - how is Sanparks going to justify this given that the treatments were part of the Dutch Lottery's list of requirements for the acceptance of the massive donation made????????????????????????????????????????

OR

Is it a case of Sanparks not wanting their rhino treated in the light of the govt's decision to approach CITES to be allowed to trade? This would scupper everything!!!!!

http://witnessnews.mobi/news/read/2985/ ... challenged

[H. erectus]

Another massive donation pending????

of the Dutch Lottery's list of requirements for the acceptance of the massive donation

Is this questionable?? Can we book the donor for credibility???


Geez by now Sanparks are seated on close to a billion rands worth
of 'honest' donorship!!!


Oh my golly, let's flock our rhino and get the hell outa here!!!

[Penga Ndlovu]

385

[Richprins]

SKUKUZA – Almost a month after South Africa and Mozambique signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), aimed to, among other things, curb rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park, a draft implementation plan was announced.

Representatives of the two countries finalised the draft plan. It is hoped that its implementation will be finalised and signed by the end of July. The MoU was signed at Skukuza by the minister of water and environmental affairs, Ms Edna Molewa, and the Mozambican minister of tourism, Mr Carvalho Muária on April 17.

Water and Environmental Affairs announced this week that discussions had started on fund-raising for anti-poaching, wildlife trafficking, community development and awareness campaigns. It stated, “Talks have also been held regarding the strengthening of enforcement mechanisms to ensure rhino poaching is curbed.”

To date 106 people have been arrested since January 1. The KNP has lost 245 so far this year, of the 376 in the country in total. The only province not affected this year has been the Northern Cape. A total of 39 rhino have been killed in Limpopo, 37 in KwaZulu-Natal and 26 in North West.

Among steps being taken by South Africa and Mozambique since June 2013 to address the menace of rhino poaching have included:

Immediate maintenance and erection of fencing along the eastern boundary of Kruger National Park with Mozambique;
Strengthening of the buffer zone in Mozambique through the establishment of the Greater Lubombo Conservancy;
Creation of an intensive protection zone in the Limpopo National Park;
Deploying a well-trained and armed anti-poaching unit for joint collaboration with the Kruger National Park team and the
Synchronisation of operational plans between the Limpopo and Kruger National Parks.


http://lowvelder.co.za/193754/draft-pla ... -poaching/


Not clear about cross-border operations by SANDF and Rangers, which is the most important thing!

[Flutterby]

Victory For Rhinos: Vietnam Admits Horns Can’t Cure Cancer

By Melissa Cronin 15 May 2014

Vietnam took a huge step forward in the fight against wildlife trafficking this week, when the country’s Ministry of Health and the Traditional Medicine Association agreed to acknowledge that there is no evidence supporting the idea that rhino horn could cure cancer.

Rhino horn, which is crushed up and used in traditional medicine in Vietnam and in other countries, was the topic of a workshop in Hanoi attended by the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, and WWF Vietnam, and was funded by WWF South Africa. Attendees listened to the president of the Cancer Association of Vietnam as he denounced the idea that rhino horn can cure cancer. The groups saw the meeting as a leap forward for rhinos.

“Meeting participants, including the Traditional Medicine Association showed unanimous acknowledgement that there is no evidence to support the myth that rhino horn can cure cancer, which is a significant step.” said Jo Shaw, Manager of the Rhino Programme and the Biodiversity Unit at WWF SA.

Now, conservationists say that with the ministry’s blessing, the next step is to get the message out to people who consume rhino horn for medical purposes throughout Vietnam.

[nan]

a first step

[Richprins]

Very significant indeed!

As nana says!