Rhino Owner: “We moved the last of our rhino out of South Africa today!”
Private rhino owner Nick Tredger bid farwell to the last of his rhino in South Africa yesterday, following his heartfelt letter a fortnight ago after one of his black rhino cows and her calf were killed by poachers. At that time Nick said “I am very tired and very, very angry”. He was angry with the poachers […]
Private rhino owner Nick Tredger bid farwell to the last of his rhino in South Africa yesterday, following his heartfelt letter a fortnight ago after one of his black rhino cows and her calf were killed by poachers.
At that time Nick said “I am very tired and very, very angry”. He was angry with the poachers who “didn’t even bother to take [the calf’s] tiny horn…they just killed her”. He was tired of scanning the sky for vultures and “tired of hating the full moon” otherwise known as poachers’ moon.
And Nick was “angry at the governments of South Africa and the rest of the world who fail to recognise or support the private rhino owners who are fighting private battles alone and un-funded.”
Just last week the South African Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) declared – in its invitation to celebrate World Rhino Day on 22 September – that: “South Africa has a proud conservation record, having brought the rhino back from near extinction in the 1960s to a healthy estimated 20,000 black and white rhino by the end of 2013.
[quote_center]”South Africa has a proud conservation record” – DEA[/quote_center]
“Our country has been described as the only remaining hope for the world in terms of rhino conservation. It is a reputation that the country, and Government, wishes to maintain.”
According to the experience of private rhino hunters however this may not be quite accurate.
While thanks to conservationists like Dr Ian Player the rhino was indeed brought back from near extinction a few decades ago, it’s again under threat. Some say by 2026 there will be no rhino left. Rhino horn traders hope this prediction is correct because it will increase the value of the horn which is tragically viewed as a status symbol in some Asian countries, particularly Vietnam.
[quote_center]”…the stench of thousands of rotting rhino carcasses lies across our land and fills our nostrils” – Ayesha Cantor[/quote_center]
The government’s statement omits to mention that since 2007 when only 13 rhino were poached, the figures have escalated dramatically. We lost 1,215 rhino to poachers last year. This year – by 24 August – we had already lost 750. The full South African rhino poaching statistics are frightening.
[quote_center]Some say by 2026 there will be no rhino left.[/quote_center]
Louise Joubert, from SanWild Wildlife & Rhino Sanctuary, says: “Action speaks so much louder than words! It is as clear as crystal to everyone in South Africa (besides a few that have benefitted immensely from corruption) that the statement by the Department of Environmental Affairs is nothing more than another idle promise.
“Any undertaking without the political will to back it up in reality means nothing and rhinos will unfortunately continue to be butchered while the government remains in denial and refuses to back up their statements by real action.”
Although the SA government has implemented several new anti-rhino poaching strategies and it was recently revealed by former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano that armed rangers in the Kruger Park have killed almost 500 alleged Mozambican poachers since 2010, the poachers continue to infiltrate SA’s borders…and it appears that South Africa is no longer viewed as “the only remaining hope” for the conservation of rhino…or any hope at all.
Rhino are being moved out of our country and into neighbouring Botswana and even as far away as Australia in a desperate bid to place the animals in countries where they will hopefully be better protected and their species safeguarded for future generations.
“We moved the last of our rhino out of South Africa today!
“Caught, crated and carried away to a place where they will be safer. We were just unable to hold the defensive line, stave off the onslaught, and had to do what we needed to do to save the last remaining lives.
“I could give you numbers of dead, missing and moved, but statistics are hard, cold facts and fail to portray the raw emotion of losing a familiar friend, someone that you’ve known since the day they were born.
“Rhino are not cold statistics, but are warm-blooded individuals with personalities and family lives, and deserve to be remembered thus.
“When private rhino owners in particular lose a rhino it’s like losing family – here’s my eulogy to family members gone too soon:
Thelula and little Jack – RIP
Pointer Sister Bonnie – RIP
Angles and baby Afro – RIP
Young boys Stumpy and Ron – RIP
Molly – RIP
Witch and calf – RIP
Unnamed black cow died alone under a tree – RIP
“Maybe when we are able to acknowledge that we humans en-masse and globally failed these wonderful animals, and when we are able to afford to adequately protect our rhino in South Africa, stop the poachers at the fences, close the loopholes that allow the greed and corruption to fester and eat into our world like cancer – maybe then we will bring our family back home!”
Read Nick Tredger’s original post sent to an anti-poaching facebook page here.
Ayesha Cantor, who is also a private rhino owner and an administrator on the facebook page of Outraged South African Citizens Against Poaching (Oscap), experienced poachers on her property during the last full moon.
“It’s frightening,” she says. “And you realise just how helpless you are in trying to protect these creatures.”
Speaking as someone who witnesses the rhino crisis firsthand, Ayesha says “South Africa cannot rest on its laurels and continue to trot out statements like ‘South Africa has a proud conservation record…’ while the stench of thousands of rotting rhino carcasses lies across our land and fills our nostrils.
“While we do not doubt that those on the ground [are] physically doing absolutely everything in their power to keep our nation’s rhino safe, it is very hard to trust that the authorities are tackling this scourge with the same hands-on zero tolerance effort.
“South Africa and the whole world are being kept in the dark as to what the REAL situation is by the mere fact that the rhino poaching stats are inaccurately reported on.
“How can we and the rest of the world make the right decisions to save this magnificent species, if we do not have the full details of travesty playing out before our eyes?
“‘Not on our watch’ sounds more and more like an empty promise every day…”
The next full moon – a “supermoon” – is on Sunday night. Pray for clouds.
MORE INFO
Outraged South African Citizens Against Poaching: www.oscap.co.za
If you would like to donate to Wildlife Conservation in South Africa, please consider supporting SanWild Wildlife & Rhino Sanctuary.