More arrests as poachers target SA’s rhinos

DESPITE a loss of 135 rhinos in South Africa to poachers this year, the Department of Environmental Affairs said on Monday it was "encouraged" by the increasing number of arrests and convictions in connection with the black-market trade in rhino horn.

The growth rate of South Africa’s rhino population is still positive, in spite of a 34% increase in poaching from the 333 animals lost in 2010 to 448 killed last year. But there is concern among some that the country — home to about 90% of the world’s rhino population — could suffer a species decline by mid-year. So far this year, 89 people had been arrested in connection with the illegal trade in rhino horn, while 232 were arrested last year and 165 in 2010, said Albi Modise, spokesman for the department. The Kruger National Park continued to bear the brunt of rhino poaching and had lost 75 rhino this year, Mr Modise said. Last week, a fifth park official stationed at the Pretoriuskop section of the park was arrested in connection with the crime, he said. Last month, 4 park officials stationed at the rest camp appeared before a White River magistrate in connection with rhino poaching in that area of the park, where at least 11 rhinos have been killed since the beginning of the year.

South African National Parks (SANParks) and the police were "working flat-out to determine if links exist between the fifth park official arrested and other internal suspects in relation to the two rhino killed in Pretoriuskop last month", Mr Modise said. Last week, a suspected poacher was shot dead in the park and two other suspects were arrested, he said. SANParks has lost 78 rhino this year, while 17 have been killed outside its properties in Limpopo. 3 have been killed in Mpumalanga, 3 in the Eastern Cape, 18 in KwaZulu-Natal and 1 in the Western Cape. 20 people have been arrested in connection with rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park this year (82 last year), 10 in Gauteng, 29 in Mpumalanga, 3 in Limpopo, 15 in North West, 6 in the Free State, 5 in KwaZulu-Natal and 1 in the Northern Cape.

Karen Trendler, a veterinary nurse and rhino rehabilitation expert, told Reuters, the news agency, on Monday there were predictions that the species could be extinct by 2015. "The problem has been exacerbated by the fact some people working in wildlife conservation and animal welfare have been implicated in the lucrative poaching industry," Ms Trendler said. "There are some incredibly good guys in the business who are doing amazing things and who would give their lives for those rhino ... But unfortunately we do have an element of corruption," she said. "There have already been prosecutions and arrests where government officials are complicit."

The booming market for rhino horn and increasingly sophisticated poaching methods helped explain the devastating death rate, Ms Trendler said. In February, the Phalaborwa Regional Court sentenced 3 rhino poachers to 25 years’ imprisonment on various counts. Several non-governmental organisations said these were some of the toughest, if not the toughest, sentences handed down thus far for rhino poaching in South Africa.

Source: Business Day