Company in London wants updated rhino poaching statistics
Conservationists in the United Kingdom are urging SA government to prioritise rhino poaching
MBOMBELA – A company in London, Network for Animals (NFA), on Saturday called on the South African Government to make the rhino-poaching crisis in the country a higher priority.
Not only is it calling for tougher sentences for poachers, but also for greater transparency about how many rhinos are being slaughtered.
The African director of NFA, Mr David Barritt, says the latest rhino-poaching statistics issued by the government seem to be a massive understatement.
It claimed that 393 rhinos had been killed in South Africa, by the end of April, and had since failed to announce any updated statistics.
Independent figures collated by Outraged SA Citizens Against Poaching (Oscap) said the true figure today is more than 710. “Even the lower figure shows a 20 per cent increase in poaching which in itself is shocking but the reality is the slaughter has more than doubled,” said Barritt.
South Africa is failing to control this scourge because of the rising demand for rhino horn in parts of Asia, particularly Vietnam.
Another problem, according to Barritt, is that although the government has said that rhino poaching is a priority crime, the country has so many other pressing concerns that it does not get the attention it needs. “There is no specific legislation governing rhino poaching,” he said. “So prosecutors have to rely on other legislation such as trespassing or possession of an illegal weapon.”
Comments made by Adv Ansie Venter, a prosecutor working in the Kruger National Park (KNP), has been widely quoted saying that rhino poaching cases appear in court like “shoplifting cases in the city”.
Many poachers come from the neighbouring country of Mozambique slipping easily back and forth over a porous border.
This is a problem for law-enforcement officials because there is no criminal extradition treaty between the two countries and Barritt said there was mounting public pressure in South Africa for the government to do more but at the moment the pleas were falling on deaf ears. “Instead the government is seeking to legalise the trade in rhino horn which would make the situation even worse. What is happening in South Africa is a catastrophe, not just for the rhino but for South Africa’s vitally important tourist industry and for future generations of South Africans who will grow up only knowing rhinos from books because they will all be extinct.”
NFA has drawn up a petition against legalisation of rhino-horn trade in South Africa and requested conservationists to sign it. The petition can be found on www.networkforanimals.org.
