Zimbabwe rhino poachers released
29/09/2008 14:48:16
"Amber", killed in her pen at Imire Ranch.
Rhino poacher tells all.
The Van Deventer brothers were arrested in South Africa on charges of poaching rhinoceroses. Having entered into a plea bargain with the state, the brothers received reduced prison sentences. Shortly afterwards, they contacted investigative journalist and Africa Geographic columnist Ian Michler. They wanted to tell their story.
Read the full piece
Rhino numbers
In 1997, there were an estimated 8,450 white rhinos and 2,600 black rhinos remaining in the wild. Today, there are 14,500 white rhinos and nearly 4,000 of the more endangered black rhinos. Recent conservation progress led to expansion of both species of African rhinos in the Lowveld region, to current totals of 400 black rhinos and 150 white rhinos. (In Zimbabwe as a whole there are 500 black rhinos and 300 white rhinos).
A breakdown in law enforcement against rhino poaching in Zimbabwe is threatening the success of more than a decade's work bringing rhino populations back up to healthy levels.September 2008. This is illustrated by the recent release of a gang of four Zimbabwean rhino poachers, who had admitted to killing 18 rhinos in five different areas of central Zimbabwe including a group of semi-tame black rhinos slaughtered in their pens at Imire Safari Ranch.
Jumped bail
The poachers were arrested with several illegal firearms and are also alleged to have been involved in a number of armed robberies. They were initially denied bail and it was reported that the four had received lengthy jail sentences. However, WWF has been informed that the poachers were granted bail and immediately absconded.
Rhino poaching increase
Rhino poaching has been increasing throughout Zimbabwe, including in the Lowveld Conservancies in southern Zimbabwe which are home to three-quarters of the country's surviving rhinos and host to a rhino conservation project involving WWF, the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe, the private sector and several other conservation agencies including the International Rhino Foundation.
70 rhinos killed in 8 years - 20 in 2008
"Since January 2000, approximately 70 rhinos have been killed in the Lowveld conservancies, and the losses are now rapidly mounting," said Raoul du Toit, Lowveld rhino conservation project manager for the Lowveld Conservancies. "About 20 rhinos were shot in the Lowveld during 2008, which points to how this problem is escalating. Prior to 2000, for a period of seven years, there was no rhino poaching whatsoever."
When the poaching first flared up, it was linked to the unplanned occupations of sections of the Lowveld Conservancies by subsistence farmers and primarily involved rhinos getting caught in wire snares that were set out to catch wildlife for meat consumption. Now the poaching has reached commercial levels, with poachers not only killing rhinos in snares but also shooting them for their horns, without taking the meat.
Corruption
"WWF and other non-government organisations involved in rhino conservation maintain very constructive relations with the Zimbabwean wildlife authorities," says du Toit, "But there is growing frustration over Zimbabwe's poor performance in law enforcement for rhino crimes, which inevitably gives rise to concerns about corruption."
No Zimbabweans convicted
Although a few poachers from Zambia have been arrested and convicted after cross-border raids into National Parks in northern Zimbabwe, not a single Zimbabwean poacher has been convicted during the current wave of internal rhino poaching. The few Zimbabwean poachers arrested, have subsequently been released on bail, (equivalent to a few American cents), and have then absconded, or have evaded prosecution in the courts.
"The lack of enforcement and increased poaching pressure in Zimbabwe now threaten to reverse the excellent trends in rhino populations of recent years," said Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF-International's Species Programme. "WWF calls on the authorities in Zimbabwe to take much stronger action against the internal poaching networks or the recent progress made in rhino conservation in Zimbabwe will be lost."
TRAFFIC
Tom Milliken, the Regional Director of TRAFFIC's programme in east and southern Africa, warns: "In terms of the CITES treaty on wildlife trade, Zimbabwe is now in the spotlight and an international task force will be visiting shortly to investigate its performance in rhino conservation.
"TRAFFIC has sponsored initiatives to improve the country's law enforcement capabilities, but sadly most investigations appear to have collapsed without successful prosecutions."
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