South Africans try poisoning horns to save rhinos

[Princess Luna]

KRUGERSDORP, South Africa – Despite the good intentions of his would-be human protectors, things wouldn't end well for Spencer the rhino.

At first, he kicked and snorted, although he had been tranquilized, and his huge prehistoric body shook violently as he lay on his side. Ten rangers struggled to hold him down.

The old bull’s eyes were covered with cloth, and ears plugged with cotton to muffle loud noises that would stress a rhino. Then the veterinarians went to work on his horns.

The experimental treatment was part of a controversial new effort to thwart rhino poaching by injecting a toxin into their horns, to dissuade people from using them in folk remedies.

Rhino poaching has become a major problem in recent years, with newly rich Vietnamese and Chinese paying exorbitant prices for horns, even though they have no medicinal value.

Dozens of journalists and wildlife experts had been invited to a safari park near Johannesburg to watch the treatment on Spencer, in hopes they’d let the world know that rhino horn was no longer safe to consume.

The treatment, conservationists said, would be harmless to the beasts.

More on GlobalPost: South Africa's Kruger park battles rhino poaching (VIDEO)

Charles van Niekerk, the lead veterinarian, drilled into Spencer’s horns, using a Bosch power drill and a ruler for accuracy. Into the holes he pumped an infusion of indelible pink dye and an anti-parasitic drug that is said to be toxic to humans, but not fatal. The rhino also received a microchip and a tracking device, and a DNA sample was taken.

While it is normal for the rhino to twitch after being tranquilized, van Niekerk explained, toward the end of the procedure Spencer went into convulsions.

Eventually, Spencer’s huge prehistoric-looking body went limp. He never woke up.

Autopsy results are pending, but veterinarians and other experts on hand said it was unlikely that the horn treatment killed Spencer. They suspect the rhino had an undetected heart condition and responded badly to the anesthesia. The same could happen to a rhino tranquilized to be relocated or dehorned.

“It shows how serious the crisis is, that we have to do this,” said Robi Beninca, a leader of SPOTS, a Johannesburg-based company that works to protect threatened species. “It highlights how serious it is, that we have to go and risk healthy animals.”

While South African authorities have declared rhino poaching a crime of national priority, many feel that enough isn’t being done, and they must take matters into their own hands or else the rhinos will be lost. The procedure attempted on Spencer has been successfully completed on more than 10 rhinos already, although conservationists say many more will need to be treated before it becomes a successful deterrent.

More on GlobalPost: South Africa: Kruger Park rangers strike triggers rhino poaching fears

This is just one front in the complex war against rhino poaching, with no easy solution to stop the killing.

Private game reserve owners, who profit from the tourism that rhinos and other wildlife draw, are trying tactics such as dehorning rhinos and inserting homemade poison concoctions into their horns — and then spreading the word, to try to persuade poachers to go elsewhere.

Tracking devices are widely used, and are on the verge of being small enough to be inserted into a horn and linked into a national database, like the technology used to track stolen cars.

Significant effort and money is also going into better security, by both government-run parks and private game reserves, to fight off the increasingly sophisticated poachers.

Joseph Okori, head of the World Wildlife Fund’s rhino program, attended the horn treatment event to learn about the procedure as one of the possible new ways to deter poachers.

“We must recognize that we’re dealing with a crisis on our hands,” Okori said. “The poaching crisis is not a simple issue. It’s something that needs everybody on board. We’re here to say, we must consider all deterrents that are available to the rhino community.”

Pelham Jones, a leader of the South Africa Private Rhino Owners Association, said his group won’t endorse procedures that have not been proven scientifically or that involve excessive risk to the rhino.

The association hasn’t taken a stance against dehorning, instead leaving the decision up to the individual rhino owner, but Jones said removing a rhino’s horns is not considered an economical solution.

More on GlobalPost: South Africa: Rhino poachers from Mozambique jailed for 25 years

Dehorning also “has a lot of social behavior problems attached to it,” potentially affecting mating behavior and even causing violence between animals, he added.

To dehorn a single rhino in South Africa costs about 6,000 to 8,000 rand (about $750 to $1,000). The rhino must be tranquilized, and the process must be repeated every 12 to 18 months because the horns grow back.

In comparison, it costs about 10,000 to 15,000 rand ($1,300 to $2,000) for the horn treatment conducted on Spencer the rhino, and veterinarians said it would probably need to be repeated after four years, although this is untested.

Some rhinos have been killed by poachers even though they were dehorned.

Phila, a black rhino, was shot at least nine times in two separate attacks on a private game reserve in South Africa’s Limpopo province, even though she had been dehorned. She survived the attacks and was moved to the Johannesburg Zoo.

Poachers apparently went after the stub of horn she had left. In the dehorning process, the entire horn can’t be removed, and even a small amount has financial value.

Lorinda Hern, whose family owns the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve where Spencer the rhino lived and died, started the rhino horn treatment project after the reserve lost a pregnant cow and a two-year-old calf to poachers in 2010.

“We effectively lost three rhinos in one incident,” she said. “We felt a desperate need to do something urgently.”

Hern doesn’t consider the treatment a permanent solution but “literally a means to buy time” until the poaching problem can be stopped.

“No deterrent is an absolute guarantee that your animal will be protected, but it’s another arrow in the quiver against possible poaching incidents,” she said.

Van Niekerk, the veterinarian who performed the rhino horn procedure at the recent media event, called the death of Spencer “a tragedy.”

“It’s a disaster,” he said, his eyes moist with tears. “There are so few of them and we have to save every one that there is.”

Van Niekerk added: “From our point of view, if we stop now then the poachers have won.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/south-africa/120223/rhino-poaching-south-africa-poisons-rhino-horns

[Metacomet]

I read somewhere (not sure where) that someone who runs a "rhino farm" says the poaching is completely unnecessary anyway. He says he could generate enough rhino horn on his ranch without killing a single one, as the horns grow up in a few years.

[piet11111]

I read somewhere (not sure where) that someone who runs a "rhino farm" says the poaching is completely unnecessary anyway. He says he could generate enough rhino horn on his ranch without killing a single one, as the horns grow up in a few years.

That would create demand and at the same time making it a real pain in the ass to distinguish between farmed horns and illegally poached horns.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

They could poison the poachers instead-problem solved.

I'm not sure how to deal with the poacher problem; have there been instances where anti-poaching policies have been successfully implemented that led to no more poaching?

[grendalsbane]

The focus shouldn't be on the poachers but on those who create the demand and buy the rhino horns and other animal parts.

If their is no financial gain to be made, I doubt the poachers would continue.

[bcbm]

national geographic recently ran an interesting article (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/rhino-wars/gwin-text) about the rhino poaching problem. i think the farming is a good idea, as well as simply cutting the horns off some of the rhinos in the wild to deter poachers.

[manic expression]

If it was up to me I'd put the best military squads in the country on the task of exclusively protecting rhinos all day and night. Then I'd institute the death penalty for anyone convicted of poaching them. Let's see if the problem would continue after that.

[bcbm]

If it was up to me I'd put the best military squads in the country on the task of exclusively protecting rhinos all day and night. Then I'd institute the death penalty for anyone convicted of poaching them. Let's see if the problem would continue after that.

the death penalty doesn't work as a deterrent, especially in cases involving lots of money and incredibly well organized criminal syndicates that are probably better equipped than the south africa army. the best way to tackle the problem would be to finance studies disproving the healing qualities of rhino horn to cut in to the demand while extensively farming legal rhino horn to increase the supply and diminish the reward for poaching.

[lombas]

If it was up to me I'd put the best military squads in the country on the task of exclusively protecting rhinos all day and night.

They're already doing that.

http://www.senseandsustainability.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/ranger-guarding-a-black-rhino-in-Matusadona-National-Park-Zimbabwe-thumb-425x289-300x204.jpg

[manic expression]

the death penalty doesn't work as a deterrent, especially in cases involving lots of money and incredibly well organized criminal syndicates that are probably better equipped than the south africa army. the best way to tackle the problem would be to finance studies disproving the healing qualities of rhino horn to cut in to the demand while extensively farming legal rhino horn to increase the supply and diminish the reward for poaching.
Poaching used to be a serious threat to giant pandas in China, but conservation efforts have significantly improved since the PRC made it quite clear that anyone caught poaching the animals would be likely to spend the rest of a rather short life regretting it. Criminal syndicates are based on being able to gain leverage through connections...imposing such penalties upon those involved across the board undercuts a lot of their ability to recruit and operate. Life imprisonment would be a fine measure too, but regardless this sort of crime has to be dealt with strongly and resolutely without exception.

I suppose you are right, though. Lower-level poachers should be used to get information about the higher-ups, who should then, if convicted, be given an appropriate punishment.

[bcbm]

Poaching used to be a serious threat to giant pandas in China, but conservation efforts have significantly improved since the PRC made it quite clear that anyone caught poaching the animals would be likely to spend the rest of a rather short life regretting it.

i suspect the prc has a lot more resources than south africa to devote to the problem. as it stands those who protect the rhinos are outgunned and often outnumbered by the poachers who have seriously moneyed backing. i also think the death penalty is barbaric, especially when there are other options that can be pursued with relative ease.


Criminal syndicates are based on being able to gain leverage through connections...imposing such penalties upon those involved across the board undercuts a lot of their ability to recruit and operate.

in india 'encounters' with the police are common and basically amount to extra-judicial executions for career criminals. as far as i know they have done very little to deter crime. with the type of money involved here i don't think the death penalty would be an effective deterrent, and i also don't think a country where the death penalty has been abolished for 17 years will find it easy to re-introduce for these sort of criminal offenses.


Life imprisonment would be a fine measure too, but regardless this sort of crime has to be dealt with strongly and resolutely without exception.

they are dealing with it as best they can with limited resources, again in most cases the criminal syndicates have more power than the state making it hard to even bring cases to trial.


I suppose you are right, though. Lower-level poachers should be used to get information about the higher-ups, who should then, if convicted, be given an appropriate punishment.

in the article i linked earlier you can see such a scenario play out. the lower-level poacher won't say shit because he and his family are dead if he does. the best way to undercut the poaching and the syndicates at this point is by reducing its profitability.

[gorillafuck]

the only way to stop rhino poaching is to make it not profitable to be a poacher.

[manic expression]

i suspect the prc has a lot more resources than south africa to devote to the problem. as it stands those who protect the rhinos are outgunned and often outnumbered by the poachers who have seriously moneyed backing. i also think the death penalty is barbaric, especially when there are other options that can be pursued with relative ease.
You're most likely right about not having as many resources, but the South African military isn't small potatoes, deploying a few dozen soldiers per rhino and even providing close air support wouldn't be out of the question. The most moneyed poachers in the world should be pissing themselves at the thought of being discovered.

The death penalty is barbaric, but poachers who are destroying a national treasure deserve no better. Pardon one offense and you encourage the commission of many.


and i also don't think a country where the death penalty has been abolished for 17 years will find it easy to re-introduce for these sort of criminal offenses.
Point taken, South Africa has good reason to not use the death penalty anymore...life imprisonment without parole would be best, then.

Though if I may make a point about monetary gain, panda skins were/are worth a ton...knowing that one could be put to death did curb much of the poaching. Since 1997 the death penalty was rescinded (20 years seems to be what they give now) but it was that period that made a large difference in conservation efforts.


they are dealing with it as best they can with limited resources, again in most cases the criminal syndicates have more power than the state making it hard to even bring cases to trial.
If that's the case then classify it as an act of insurrection and put them in military courts.


in the article i linked earlier you can see such a scenario play out. the lower-level poacher won't say shit because he and his family are dead if he does. the best way to undercut the poaching and the syndicates at this point is by reducing its profitability.
They should put the family and the poacher in protection programs. If the poacher still won't talk than he should suffer the very dire consequences.

And yes I agree that reducing profitability would help, but overwhelming force and merciless punishment would also help a great deal, and moreover it's applicable now.

[l'Enfermé]

Why would you institute the death penalty for people for killing animals? Or life imprisonment? What the hell is this madness? It's a fucking animal. You can't just imprison or execute someone for killing an animal, we all(except vegetarians) eat dead animals every day...

Yeah, it's sad Rhinos are going extinct...but there are millions of other species that aren't going extinct so fuck that.

[bcbm]

You're most likely right about not having as many resources, but the South African military isn't small potatoes, deploying a few dozen soldiers per rhino and even providing close air support wouldn't be out of the question.

um yeah it would be out of the question, there aren't that many soldiers and even if there were it would require a pretty big chunk of resources to support such an operation. air support is not a bad idea though as some of the poachers have been known to use it.


The most moneyed poachers in the world should be pissing themselves at the thought of being discovered.

the poachers themselves probably are not that rich, but they are backed by extremely wealthy criminal organizations who would probably be somewhat deterred but not 'pissing themselves' by any means.



Point taken, South Africa has good reason to not use the death penalty anymore...life imprisonment without parole would be best, then.

Though if I may make a point about monetary gain, panda skins were/are worth a ton...knowing that one could be put to death did curb much of the poaching. Since 1997 the death penalty was rescinded (20 years seems to be what they give now) but it was that period that made a large difference in conservation efforts.

there have been increasing efforts (http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=167796) against poachers with the latest sentence handed down being 25 years, but a simple punishment as deterrent approach i don't think will be enough. the example of pandas is interesting but i think this is a different situation, at least from what i can tell doing some brief research.


And yes I agree that reducing profitability would help, but overwhelming force and merciless punishment would also help a great deal, and moreover it's applicable now.

poachers are being punished harshly, there have been long prison sentences, many arrests and some have been killed in the field. but the statistics show increased numbers each year nonetheless, bottoming out the price of rhino horn on the market will be a pretty quick deterrent to poachers.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Yeah, it's sad Rhinos are going extinct...but there are millions of other species that aren't going extinct so fuck that.

Actually, on average, a dozen species per day go extinct.

[bcbm]

yeah we live in the largest mass extinction in many many year oops

[l'Enfermé]

Actually, on average, a dozen species per day go extinct.
That doesn't contradict what I wrote, perhaps you misread my post. These people kill animals to make a living, how are they different from professional hunters?

Some people in this thread seem to support arbitrary laws imposed by capitalist states to severely punish that kill rhinos...this is an unacceptable position for any decent human being, let alone a leftist.

Saying that abortion is morally wrong, though believing that it's justified in cases of rape and risk to the mother, and also believing that although it's immoral, criminalizing it is even a bigger evil, thus concluding that it shouldn't be criminalized, seems to be a position that you get restricted (I speak of our good comrade RGacky, obviously) around here...yet calling for death sentences and life sentences for poor Africans that kill rhinos is fine?

It's a horrible position. Kill as many fucking rhinos as you want, it's a fucking animal, it's use is limited to how much benefit it brings to humans.

[manic expression]

Why would you institute the death penalty for people for killing animals? Or life imprisonment? What the hell is this madness? It's a fucking animal. You can't just imprison or execute someone for killing an animal, we all(except vegetarians) eat dead animals every day...
It's a matter of destroying a national treasure for the sake of selling it as a nonsensical non-medicine on the other side of the planet. It would be like breaking apart the Pyramids of Giza and making them into stone dildos.


um yeah it would be out of the question, there aren't that many soldiers and even if there were it would require a pretty big chunk of resources to support such an operation. air support is not a bad idea though as some of the poachers have been known to use it.
They have 74,000 personnel in active duty, that's more than enough for the task I think. If it were up to me I'd make it part of field exercises to cut down on cost.


the poachers themselves probably are not that rich, but they are backed by extremely wealthy criminal organizations who would probably be somewhat deterred but not 'pissing themselves' by any means.
Knowing that if they're discovered the best soldiers in the country backed by military helicopters will come after them with authorization to shoot to kill should deter them a lot more...and the idea that if they're caught they'll be locked in a dark, tiny cell for the rest of their natural lives should deter them even more.

Another idea would be to send undercover agents to join the poaching organizations and then out them.


there have been increasing efforts (http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=167796) against poachers with the latest sentence handed down being 25 years, but a simple punishment as deterrent approach i don't think will be enough. the example of pandas is interesting but i think this is a different situation, at least from what i can tell doing some brief research.
True, you're right it can't be just about punishment, but I think it can be an important factor in a wider effort.


poachers are being punished harshly, there have been long prison sentences, many arrests and some have been killed in the field. but the statistics show increased numbers each year nonetheless, bottoming out the price of rhino horn on the market will be a pretty quick deterrent to poachers.
Yes, but I think the perception is that a few of them get hard punishments, a few get killed, but the occupational hazard is relatively low and if you start poaching you have a good chance of getting away with it.

I want the perception to be that becoming a poacher means you'll almost certainly end up dead or locked away forever.

That, combined with your excellent ideas of making it less profitable, should do a great deal to help.

[l'Enfermé]

"I support permanently denying someone their life, or executing them, because they are poor and are forced to to kill animals because capitalism does not give them another choice"

Are you nuts? Animals are not a "treasure". Animals are animals. You can't lock up or execute someone for killing some animals. That's a horrible, horrible thing to say.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

"I support permanently denying someone their life, or executing them, because they are poor and are forced to to kill animals because capitalism does not give them another choice"


I believe poachers have other choices than to hunt endangered animals. To prove this point of yours you would have to prove that the poachers are doing it in order to survive and not for profit.

[bcbm]

in some cases poachers are driven by economic necessity to hunt endangered animals and this is one of the reasons i am against the death penalty and in favor of economic measures to discourage poaching. but in this case i think the poachers are paid quite well and generally professionals of some sort, whether trackers, employees of the park service or part of a criminal organization and not people simply forced by desperation. not that this justifies death or prison.

[l'Enfermé]

I believe poachers have other choices than to hunt endangered animals. To prove this point of yours you would have to prove that the poachers are doing it in order to survive and not for profit.
Yes, considering this is Africa, these guys are millionaires that hunt fucking big-ass Rhinos because they want to make even more millions.

[bcbm]

Yes, considering this is Africa, these guys are millionaires that hunt fucking big-ass Rhinos because they want to make even more millions.

yes because everyone in africa is poor and starving

from financial mail (http://www.fm.co.za/Article.aspx?id=152888)


Regardless of the evidence the prosecution presents, well-funded, well- connected crime syndicates are controlling the game and the authorities are two steps behind. The use of helicopters, night-vision equipment, high-powered hunting rifles and schedule 6 veterinary drugs are a necessary “business expense ”.

. . .

What is not disputed is that rhino horns are valuable, so much so that bribing policemen, politicians or government officials is not beyond poachers’ budgets.

obviously there are some who are probably just desperate


The R4 gang often uses inexperienced shooters who are willing to take risks to make a quick buck . The poachers are dropped off at fence lines of game farms at night or dawn, given an R4 and sent in to shoot whatever they can find.

but rhino poaching is increasingly being done by professional syndicates with a lot of money.

[KlassWar]

They're using fucking helicopters to kill rhinos for their horns... And it's still profitable?

Cm'on, Rhino horn must be more expensive than goddamn Viagra! Are you seriously telling me people prefer to pay more for non-medicine that won't work instead of less for medicine that does actually work?

The world's nuts.

[bcbm]

rhino horn is worth more than gold per ounce

[lombas]

It's true. And tiger bones go for 500 dollars per gram apparently. Seems like we should get some folks off the cocaine hunt and on a rhino/tiger... protection program. And it's quite effective: they don't have to track down plantations, we just have to book them a Hannah Lodge Room in the Lilungwe Park.

[manic expression]

in some cases poachers are driven by economic necessity to hunt endangered animals and this is one of the reasons i am against the death penalty and in favor of economic measures to discourage poaching. but in this case i think the poachers are paid quite well and generally professionals of some sort, whether trackers, employees of the park service or part of a criminal organization and not people simply forced by desperation. not that this justifies death or prison.
(If the above wasn't a response to me then my apologies, it seemed as much) Honestly, there's no economic necessity to hunt rhinos. No one is faced with the choice of starving or poaching.


Yes, considering this is Africa, these guys are millionaires that hunt fucking big-ass Rhinos because they want to make even more millions.
You don't think millionaires are deeply involved in this? Every one of these scumbags works for millionaires and does their bidding to expand their business. F*ck them and the helicopter they rode in on.

[bcbm]

oh no it was directed at borz but yeah in some places poaching is driven by poverty etc, but i don't thiink thats really the case here.