Anti Poaching, at the Sharp end...

[BRICKBURN]

Just when you thought these were pictures of poachers after capture......

These are the RANGERS.



Angry villagers attack IAPF #rhino #rangers in Mozambique
By Taschica Pillay, The Times

IAPF - International Anti Poaching Foundation

THREE anti-poaching rangers, two South Africans and a Mozambican, were hospitalised after being beaten by villagers after they apprehended a #poacher.

Sean van Niekerk, of Limpopo, and two colleagues were WHIPPED, STABBED AND PELTED WITH ROCKS BY A MOB in a small Mozambican town near South Africa’s Komatipoort border.

Van Niekerk, 25, was discharged from Nelspruit Medi-Clinic on Thursday, where he was treated for a minor skull fracture, stab wounds and injuries to his face and back. He said it would not stop him returning to the field to help save #wildlife. Van Niekerk said they were called last weekend to assist a ranger who had caught a poacher near Sabi river.

“My colleagues and I, with four Mozambican police officers, were transporting the poacher to the station, which was about 30km away, when he escaped from the vehicle.

“I chased after the poacher and caught him. I handed him back to the police officer. Suddenly, a mob from the community started moving towards us,” said Van Niekerk.

THE POLICE OFFICERS WHO WERE WITH THEM RAN AWAY.

“We, the rangers, were the targets. I called for help. We were boxed in. We had no weapons so we had to fight back to stay alive until the helicopter arrived.

“We were hit by about 10 people, who were armed with blunt machetes. I was stabbed with a bottle, stoned and whipped,” he said.

He said it was only when the helicopter arrived that the mob backed off.

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Rhino poachers were apparently recognized in the crowd and were the ones that got the mob going. Rhino poachers continue to criminalize villages and are often seen as 'Robin Hoods'

 

[Clayton]

This is beyond simply disturbing. It gives some indication of just how serious and criminal the problem is. Thanks for posting this one.

 

[CAustin]

Prayers for these brave men!

 

[Hank2211]

Let me start by saying I am not taking the side of the poachers here. These people are criminals.

But there is a lesson in this episode, and it may not be the one we think.

To ignore those who live with wildlife, to ignore the role of villagers who are living at a subsistence level in many cases, is to essentially hand the battle to the poachers who would both eliminate the threat posed by large animals and put some amount of money, however small, into the local rural economy.

We simply cannot win this battle with bans, and by ignoring the people on the ground. The loss of crops to animals - elephants, rhino, etc., can mean life or death for these villagers. In addition, in the first quarter of 2015, 27 rural Zimbabweans were killed by wildlife countrywide (African Hunter; No. 106). For the sake of comparison, the US has more than 20 times the population of Zimbabwe, so this would like 540 people killed in three months! This would be over 2,000 deaths per year. Can you imagine the outcry?

When will we learn that we cannot solve this problem by sending in the wardens, or the army (or even the cavalry)? They have a role to play, of course, but we need to have the people who live with these animals involved, at every step of the process. We need them to want the animals.

Hunters often repeat the cry "if it pays, it stays." Then some government - ours, the Europeans, Kenya, etc., passes laws which have the effect of drying up the flow of funds to these villages. And we are surprised when those who provide an alternative source of funds are applauded?

How naive are we?

 

[siml]

This year we have had a major increase in gin traps, when I questioned the staff, they replied they have been threatened by the poachers, their families live in the same villagers.......do the maths!!!

 

[tigris115]

This just sows how much people will risk and the fight we're up against.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Let me start by saying I am not taking the side of the poachers here. These people are criminals.

But there is a lesson in this episode, and it may not be the one we think.

To ignore those who live with wildlife, to ignore the role of villagers who are living at a subsistence level in many cases, is to essentially hand the battle to the poachers who would both eliminate the threat posed by large animals and put some amount of money, however small, into the local rural economy.

We simply cannot win this battle with bans, and by ignoring the people on the ground. The loss of crops to animals - elephants, rhino, etc., can mean life or death for these villagers. In addition, in the first quarter of 2015, 27 rural Zimbabweans were killed by wildlife countrywide (African Hunter; No. 106). For the sake of comparison, the US has more than 20 times the population of Zimbabwe, so this would like 540 people killed in three months! This would be over 2,000 deaths per year. Can you imagine the outcry?

When will we learn that we cannot solve this problem by sending in the wardens, or the army (or even the cavalry)? They have a role to play, of course, but we need to have the people who live with these animals involved, at every step of the process. We need them to want the animals.

Hunters often repeat the cry "if it pays, it stays." Then some government - ours, the Europeans, Kenya, etc., passes laws which have the effect of drying up the flow of funds to these villages. And we are surprised when those who provide an alternative source of funds are applauded?

How naive are we?

Legal hunting has to be Part of the communities experience.

No surprise to me that community members who are actually being fed would be upset with anyone interceding in that supply chain.

Ignorance. Plain and simple

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Attached a 2015 newsletter from Sabie Game Park Mozambique LDA.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

This year we have had a major increase in gin traps...

Where are they getting these gin traps?

 

[Hank2211]

Ignorance. Plain and simple

On the part of whom?

I'd say pretty much all sides.

The IUCN said in a recent publication prepared for the European Union, that bans on hunting should imposed:

". . . only after identification and implementation of feasible, fully funded and sustainable alternatives to hunting that respect indigenous and local community rights and livelihoods and deliver equal or greater incentives for conservation over the long term."
​

Frankly, we never see that in practice. It's implement a ban, and then expect that everything will work out positively for the animals . . . so who is ignorant here?

If hunters or governments or NGOs don't provide cash flow to subsistence farmers, poachers will. Hard to care about animals which are a threat to you and your family when your belly is empty. Simple as that.

 

[BRICKBURN]

.........,,​

It's implement a ban, and then expect that everything will work out positively for the animals . . .

If hunters or governments or NGOs don't provide cash flow to subsistence farmers, poachers will. ..........

Black and white solutions (bans) without regard to reality on the ground.

That would be an excellent example of the ignorance

 

[cpr0312]

Oh my gosh!!! Wow, brave guys, hope they all recover quickly! Awesome to hear the resolve in his voice in the quote!

 

[siml]

@AfricaHunting.com , Jerome a lot are homemade from the leaf blades off trucks, there also stories of the Chinese selling the traps.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

@AfricaHunting.com , Jerome a lot are homemade from the leaf blades off trucks, there also stories of the Chinese selling the traps.

Would you share some close up pictures of some of these gin traps that you found when you have some time, thanks.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

From some of the pictures that I have seen it looks as if they are mass produce.

 

[siml]

This poor duiker stood in small gin trap and as things happen, it got even worse for the duiker, ended up in a bigger trap.

 

[BRICKBURN]

From the frying pan into the fire.

 

[siml]

@BRICKBURN , we spotted the trap by seeing an eagle feeding on the duikers lips, didn't make any friends when I told them to leave the duiker for the eagle...

Jerome definitely not a mass manufactured trap.

 

[spike.t]

there also stories of the Chinese selling the traps.

now why doesnt that surprise me.......

 

[Clayton]

Carter's W.A.R. series had a segment with one of the locals showing how he used to fabricate the traps and talked at length about how many are made by the most crude operations. Demonstrated just what a man with some ingenuity can do.