On 1 July 2010, a butchered rhinoceros cow was found dead with her horn hacked off with a panga in the Borakalalo National Game Reserve in the North West province of South Africa.(2) When an investigation unit was deployed in the bush, the detection of yet another dead rhino carcass in the veld alerted conservation authorities to a seemingly losing battle against rhino poaching in southern Africa. Two weeks thereafter, another female rhino was found stabbed to death in the Krugersdorp Game Reserve with her horn removed, leaving a nine-month old calf behind in the bush.(3) This year in particular, reported incidences of illegal rhino poaching in South Africa have swept over almost every province, mostly in Limpopo (such as in the Kruger National Park), Mpumalanga, North West, Gauteng, the Eastern Cape (4,5,6) and - the least affected province so far with only 14 rhinos having been killed by the end of September - KwaZulu-Natal.(7,8)

As rhino poaching, mostly in South Africa and Zimbabwe, has escalated in the last two years, conservation efforts seem to be losing a battle against an alarming rise in organised poaching crimes aimed at, primarily, dehorning Africa's rhinos to feed a flourishing international trade. This review paper aims to highlight this year's rhino poaching incidents, mostly in South Africa. It follows recent conservation debates to understand why these haphazard acts prevail amidst a national ban on illegal trade in rhinoceros horns, while providing insight into such events by referring to key policy documents and statements from conservation authorities.

The state of Africa's last remaining horns

Africa's largest remaining rhino populations, both black and white, are found in Namibia and South Africa.(9) To some degree, this is due to these countries' vigilant protection and habitat expansion that basically brought this species back from extinction in the last century. This protection has also portrayed South Africa, in particular, as a country which has outstanding conservation programmes and successes in breeding rhinos. During a rhino summit held on 5 and 6 October 2010, the South African Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Buyelwa Sonjica, stated that the country is internationally recognised for playing a key role in the conservation of rhinos.(10) The country hosted 35% of Africa's black and 93% of its white rhino populations by the end of 2007. It is estimated that this population is currently 19,000 for white rhinos and 1,750 for black rhinos respectively.(11)

Although commendable, from 2008, these protective efforts have been faced with escalating rhino poaching, across mostly South Africa but also Zimbabwe. These crimes do more than just deplete rhino numbers, as they also cost private landowners (here defined in terms of being in the possession of rhinos) a considerable amount in financial terms. To put a value to this loss, it is estimated that to date, private rhino owners in South Africa have lost ZAR 200 million (US$ 28.31 million) to poaching in the last decade.(12)

South Africa and Zimbabwe are both faced with serious rhino poaching, and it is now international crime syndicates that seem to be fuelling a renewed chase for horns in Africa. As stated by a veteran ranger at the Kruger National Park following a similar poaching in Krugersdorp Nature Reserve, South Africa: "Where we once had to deal with poachers wearing flip-flops and using home-made snares, we are now faced with criminal gangs deploying GPS devices, night-vision equipment and foot soldiers to track rhinos for days."(13)

Today, some of these illegal crimes are therefore highly organised. Such was the case in the region of Port Elizabeth in South Africa in April 2010, where a prominent Vietnamese group received rhino horns and arranged the sale and transport of these out of the country.(14) This incident showed remarkable coordination as well as local cooperation. Consequently, syndicates are now using more high-tech equipment in their operations than was previously the case, such as helicopters, military-graded guns and prescription tranquilisers in order to pursue rhinos on private land but also on national game reserves.(15) And these illegal operations are financially viable. For example, although black rhino are more rare than their white cousins, poachers do not seem to differentiate between the two, and can easily obtain ZAR 1 million (approximately US$ 140,000) or more for a single horn.(16)

Although international trading in rhino horn was banned in 1976 by signatories to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES),(17,18) an increasing illegal trade in such horns has been argued to coincide with a number of factors. Firstly, although these horns consist of calcium, melanin and keratin (19) (which is very similar to the materials that make up human finger nails), there has been a spike in its demand from the the Far East, where these are used either for traditional medicines,(20) enhancing virility (as is the case in Asian cultures),(21) or even for the belief in its ability to cure cancer, as reported in Vietnam.(22) Secondly, vigorous organised crimes have flooded this market as some argue that the weak economy has forced private landowners to scale down on their security,(23) and with relatively few similar incidents reported in previous years, such security seemed meaningless.

Thirdly, and probably the most important reason stated by some conservationists, is that current conservation policies and laws pertaining to the international trade in rhino horn actually encourage crime units to find avenues of bypassing these regulations.(24) For example, in May 2010, ZAR45 million (US$ 6.37 million) worth of rhino horn was confiscated in South Africa at a large-scale illegal rhino hunting and smuggling operation, which was allegedly run by a man from a safari company.(25) In this way, crime syndicates may be linked to or disguised as a legal trade operation, such as a trophy-hunting expedition.

On 23 August 2010, LeadSA's Rhino Poaching Summit was held in Sandton, Johannesburg, where delegates from the South African Government, wildlife conservation communities and the private sector all agreed that the current commodity value attached to rhino horn needed to be changed.(26) However, changing something so engraved in society is clearly difficult to do. It would clearly have to be left to environmental policies to lead this change. Currently, section 57 (2) of South Africa's National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act 10 (NEMBA) of 2004, prohibits a person from being involved in any restricted activity which includes a specimen of a listed, threatened or protected species.(27)

However, killing rhinos for trophy hunting purposes is still legal in South Africa,(28) although - since 2009 - such activities must strictly adhere to a newly published moratorium on the trade of rhino horn, in terms of section 57 (2) of NEMBA.(29) Nevertheless, with some international syndicates receiving assistance from respected conservationists operating on local game farms, one has to wonder whether it is this proper legislation, or rather the enforcement of legislation, that is really to blame for the increase in rhino poaching.

The way forward

Although many arrests have been made in South Africa in collaboration with the South African National Parks (SANParks) and provincial crime-prevention teams,(30,31) an increasing number of private landowners now resort to dehorning their last remaining rhinos in an attempt to prevent them being killed. The most renowned dehorning campaign was in Zimbabwe in 2007, where the country started dehorning its last remaining rhinos after their drastic decline in the 1980s.(32) A similar, yet contested, campaign this year in South Africa involved that of a private game reserve in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, where tourists were invited to assist in dehorning a number of rhinos.(33)

Dehorning is generally harmless to an animal, and is often compared to the act of cutting one's finger nails, i.e. without pain being inflicted. Still, dehorning is very controversial for several reasons. One reason is that, together with the prestigious beauty such a horn displays, it represents (to some degree) the pride of Africa's Big Five.(34) Some argue that a rhino is not a rhino without its horn. Some conservationists are also of the opinion that dehorning contributes to a weak and defenceless animal.(35) As such, one needs to be critical about whether a rhino can really function without a horn (although the horn does grow back again), and what impacts this would have upon the future of this animal in terms of its behaviour. Furthermore, another associated problem with such programmes is the risk of the owner now having to be in the possession of the very commodity that poachers are after.(36) One can easily assume that this might render private landowners extremely vulnerable to crime, but also questions whether owners - now in the rightful possession of these horns - will keep the horns or trade them illegally. Therefore dehorning, in many ways, seems not to reduce the problem of illegal poaching, but merely reshuffles the dilemma, or even postpones it.

Several strong arguments have been made in the last year as to what people believe is needed to reduce the number of illegal rhino poaching incidents in southern Africa. Two important points have been raised. The first one is that since many anti-poaching initiatives are said to be ineffective (such as fines, for example), the demand for powdered horn simply needs to be damped.(37) To this end, according to an inspector for the South African Police Service at Kruger National Park, "[a]rresting people and sending them to jail is not stopping poaching. The only thing that can help is to reduce or completely stop the trade in rhino horn".(38) Dampening such demand might involve educational programmes in countries such as China, for example, where awareness is created among the public on the effects traditional beliefs and practices are having on the environment.

Secondly, some conservationists call for the ban on rhino-horn trading to be lifted. For example, in August 2010 Wildlife Ranging South Africa - a representative organisation of private landowners with an interest in wildlife - specifically called for legalised trade in horns to be reintroduced.(39) However, this call is also controversial, as rightly pointed out by a spokesperson for the Endangered Wildlife Trust in 2010, stating that African governments do not have adequate resources to protect animals from illegal poaching and questioning whether it would be possible to police legal trading.

Some concerned citizens are also pleading with the South African Government to take stronger action, advocating that this responsibility lies with the Government to protect what is left of the rhino population.(40) However, perhaps an integrated approach is necessary to ensure better coordination between parties with different interests - as well as the Government - to ensure that the rhino population will not be totally depleted in the near future. A more suitable alternative to dehorning, for example, might be to instead impose more rigorous enforcements upon poaching and to bring about improved cooperation between governments, game parks and national parks - in addition to imposing vigilant controls and fines.

Conclusion

This paper has provided a brief overview of illegal rhino-poaching syndicate crimes that swept over South Africa in 2010. In doing so, it highlighted debates and arguments covering a wide and often opposing spectrum of what many conservation professionals and concerned citizens believe needs to be done to save Africa's rhinoceros.

This paper also addressed a broader socio-environmental debate about beliefs and value systems. Natural animal deaths in the wild - or even legalised trophy hunting - seem to be accepted without too much emotional outcry, but the act of brutally hacking an animal with a panga for its horn is decried by society for its cruelty and inhumanity. And this is rightly so, given that the very reasons upon which these poaching crimes are based include myths of a power dust believed to cure cancer or increase virility. In this way, these crime syndicates have done more than cause an uproar amongst conservationists and concerned citizens, but have also revealed the power of deeply engraved societal beliefs, all of which can act (sometimes unknowingly) in detrimental ways upon the environment and its protection. One therefore needs to revaluate one's own beliefs and value systems, all of which might have similar effects on the environment - albeit in different (often less visible) ways.

Written by: Jan Anton Hough (1)

NOTES:

(1) Contact Jan Anton Hough through Consultancy Africa Intelligence's Eyes on Africa Unit (eyesonafrica@consultancyafrica.com).
(2) De Wet Potgieter, ‘Massacre of endangered rhino continues as two more butchered animals found', Sunday Independent, 4 July 2010.
(3) ‘Rhino found stabbed to death, horn cut off', Star, 15 July 2010.
(4) Jane Flanagan, ‘Rhino poaching on the rise in South Africa', The Telegraph, 2010, http://www.telegraph.co.uk.
(5) Noelene, Barbeau, ‘Tourists to cut off rhino horns', Daily News, 7 July 2010.
(6) Ingrid Oellermann, ‘Rhino toll rises', Witness, 6 Augustus 2010.
(7) Chester Kakana & Khulekani Mazibuko, ‘Rhino poaching accused on bail', Sowetan, 23 September 2010
(8) Stephanie Saville, ‘Rhino short at Karkloof', Witness, 26 July 2010.
(9) ‘Hunting in South Africa: a bloody mess', Animals Rights Africa, 2010, http://www.animalrightsafrica.org.
(10) ‘Keynote address by Minister Buyelwa Sonjica, MP, South African Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs at the Minister's Rhino Summit', Department of Environmental Affairs, 2010, http://www.info.gov.za.
(11) Ibid.
(12) Jocelyn, Newmarch, ‘Rhino owners lose R200m to poaching', Business Day, 14 September 2010.
(13) Jane Flanagan, ‘Rhino poaching on the rise in South Africa', The Telegraph, 2010, http://www.telegraph.co.uk.
(14) Gareth Wilson, ‘Crack task team formed to tackle rhino poaching', The Herald, 30 April 2010.
(15) ‘Rhino poaching soars', News24, 2010, 21 March 2010, http://www.news24.com.
(16) Noelene, Barbeau, ‘Tourists to cut off rhino horns', Daily News, 7 July 2010.
(17) ‘Frequently asked questions: rhino dehorning', Endangered Wildlife Trust, 2010, https://www.ewt.org.za.
(18) ‘What is CITES', Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flore, 2010, http://www.cites.org.
(19) ‘Frequently asked questions: rhino dehorning', Endangered Wildlife Trust, 2010, https://www.ewt.org.za.
(20) Ibid.
(21) Jocelyn Newmarch, ‘Dampening demand for horn is best way to halt rhino poaching', Business Day, 30 Augustus 2010.
(22) Jocelyn, Newmarch, ‘Rhino owners lose R200m to poaching', Business Day, 14 September 2010.
(23) Edward West, ‘Ezemvelo goes to battle to protect rhino', Business Day, 5 August 2010.
(24) ‘Commercial rhino poaching thriving in South Africa, thanks to Asian demand for rhino horn', Simply Green, 2010, http://www.simplygreen.co.za.
(25) Sheree Bega, ‘Rhino mafia launch slaughter from the air', Saturday Star, 5 June 2010.
(26) JP du Plessis, ‘Key steps taken in fight against rhino poaching', Eyewitness News, 2010, http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za.
(27) Republic of South Africa. 2004. National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act no. 10 of 2004. Pretoria: Government Printer.
(28) Republic of South Africa. 2009. Marking of rhinoceros horn and hunting of white rhinoceros for trophy hunting purposes. Government Printer.
(29) ‘Frequently asked questions: rhino dehorning', Endangered Wildlife Trust, 2010, https://www.ewt.org.za.
(30) Ingrid Oellermann, ‘Rhino poaching out of control', Witness, 5 July 2010.
(31) Sebenzile Nkambule, ‘Upsurge in cases of rhino poaching', Pretoria News, 2 July 2010.
(32) Jane Flanagan, ‘Rhino poaching on the rise in South Africa', The Telegraph, 2010, http://www.telegraph.co.uk.
(33) Noelene, Barbeau, ‘Tourists to cut off rhino horns', Daily News, 7 July 2010.
(34) Ibid.
(35) Jane Flanagan, ‘Rhino poaching on the rise in South Africa', The Telegraph, 2010, http://www.telegraph.co.uk.
(36) ‘Frequently asked questions: rhino dehorning', Endangered Wildlife Trust, 2010, https://www.ewt.org.za.
(37) Jocelyn Newmarch, ‘Dampening demand for horn is best way to halt rhino poaching', Business Day, 30 Augustus 2010.
(38) ‘Rhino poaching soars', News24, 2010, 21 March 2010, http://www.news24.com.
(39) Jocelyn Newmarch, ‘Dampening demand for horn is best way to halt rhino poaching', Business Day, 30 Augustus 2010.
(40) Jocelyn, Newmarch, ‘Rhino owners lose R200m to poaching', Business Day, 14 September 2010.