Rhino Poaching Etosha National Park in Namibia

[robertq]

by John Grobler
Yesterday at 2:14pm · Windhoek, Namibia · Edited ·

Preliminary and unconfirmed information out of Etosha indicates as many as 85 carcasses may have been found since the last update. Not clear yet if this includes previously reported 43 cases. Most recent one appear to be five fresh carcasses, all in western Etosha.

Information is most of them were shot in close vicinity of the warden service roads, and 93x62mm casings have been recovered. Those 9mm Mausers were standard issue to game wardens since the days of Roché, and for obvious reasons.

I suggest it is time the MET invites Etosha's deputy director Boas Erckie and Chief Control Warden Rehabeam Erckie to Windhoek for a press conference, and that the MET management also be present.

Please bring us the gun register for Etosha along, as well as all receipts for ammunition purchases of the past two years. Please also bring us a list of all MET and NWR employees currently employed in Etosha. We'd ask for a list of their dependents and long-term guests as well, but we doubt it is possible to get all that together in the limited time we have available.

Please also invite the other ENP divisional head Laimi Erckie along - we have some questions to ask of the PS in your presence, like why three out of four divisional heads in Etosha are family members. Or if it is true that the deputy director's wife is the MET stock clerk in charge of purchasing Etosha's stocks in Windhoek.

And please, above all, bring us an explanation of how any of was at all possible without the involvement of the park management itself being deeply involved. Poaching by staff - chasing lion off their kills and stealing the meat to sell in Outjo or Okahao - has been going on since the mid-90s and is an open secret.

How come no-one heard any shots or saw any vehicles - ever? No-one saw tracks where they were not supposed to be - unless those were in fact official vehicles' tracks on those service roads?

The world is demanding answers from you, gentlemen. You have not been looking after our heritage very well.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Thanks Robert. here is more on that...



Shock spike in Etosha rhino deaths

The Namibian, 20 April 2015
By Staff Reporter

THE threat looming over Namibia's rhinoceros population is even bigger than previously thought, with 38 rhino carcasses having been discovered in the Etosha National Park so far this year.
The Ministry of Environment and Tourism announced in a media statement on Friday that another 31 rhino carcasses have been found in the Etosha National Park since 8 April.

The ministry, together with the police, is investigating the death of the animals to, among other things, determine whether all of the 31 rhinos had been poached, or if some had died of natural causes, the ministry's permanent secretary, Simeon Negumbo, said in the statement.

While announcing that more incidents of rhino poaching had been discovered in Etosha, which is Namibia's flagship wildlife conservation area, Negumbo also stated that some of the newly discovered carcasses were old and some still had their horns attached.

Most of the 31 carcasses were discovered in the western part of Etosha, Negumbo stated.
Friday's press release by the ministry was issued a week after a previous media statement, in which the ministry announced that seven rhino carcasses - of which six were the remains of male animals - had been discovered in Etosha from February to 7 April. The ministry said the discovery of the seven carcasses brought the number of rhinos found poached in Etosha since October last year to a total of 11.

The 31 additional animals that have been found dead could bring the rhino poaching death toll in Etosha to 42 within a period of six months.

According to the ministry, five carcasses of rhinos that had been killed by poachers have also been discovered in the Kunene region between February and 7 April.

Namibia lost 24 rhinos to poaching during 2014, according to official figures.
With the poaching of rhinos on the increase in Namibia, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and law enforcement authorities have had little success in tracking down and arresting suspected poachers so far.

Only one person - a resident of Kunene - has been convicted of rhino poaching in Namibia last year.
He was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in August last year, after he was found guilty of the poaching of a rhino cow in the Sesfontein area in December 2012.

Three Chinese citizens were arrested at Hosea Kutako International Airport in March last year and charged with illegal possession and export of controlled wildlife products, after 14 rhino horns were allegedly discovered in the luggage they were about to take with them on a flight out of Namibia. The three men are still in custody, with their trial scheduled to start in the Windhoek Regional Court in June.

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism announced on 7 April that it is offering a reward of N$30 000 to anyone providing the ministry or the police with information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of people involved in poaching.

The world's rhino population has been threatened by a poaching onslaught in recent years as a result of a demand for rhino horn in some Asian countries, such as China and Vietnam, where it is superstitiously believed that rhino horn has medicinal properties.

In fact, the animals' horns consist mostly of keratin - the same substance that is the main component of animal hooves and human hair and nails, which means that Asian consumers wanting to buy rhino horn at exorbitant prices would derive the same benefit from biting their own nails as they would from ingesting rhino horn.

According to the United Kingdom-based rhino conservation organisation Save the Rhino International, claims that in some Asian countries it is believed that rhino horn can be used as an aphrodisiac by men experiencing problems with their libido or flaccid erections are not correct, although research has shown that in some countries, like Vietnam, a belief in the supposed libidinal power of rhino horn is rearing its head.

 

[BRICKBURN]

They need to add a couple more zeros on that reward to begin to compete with the pay packet the preachers are getting.

Damn.

 

[robertq]

I think we need to sell hunting permits for poaching......

 

[dory]

The reward is pitiful .
Make it N300,000 and see Who screams loudest then .
Human greed will make family squeal on family and friend on friend .
One day soon it will be to late .

 

[siml]

The ban on trade in rhino horns has not stopped the poaching one bit, I believe it is time to make trade in rhino horns legal, surely it can't make the situation away worse. There are plenty of legal rhino horns in stock piles, flood the market, let the ranches that have rhino farm the horns.

 

[robertq]

TMS, I said the same-thing about Ivory...... they burned piles of ivory ......

 

[robertq]

http://m.sun.com.na/etosha-killing-fields-park-staff-be-probed

 

[siml]

I will never understand the logic of burning those stock piles.

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

Something terrible. Thanks for sharing.
Witold

 

[Stefanus Prinsloo]

Very sad...

 

[BRICKBURN]

I will never understand the logic of burning those stock piles.

PR and you also get to lose count of all the tusks that are shunted out the back door and sold.

 

[BRICKBURN]

http://m.sun.com.na/etosha-killing-fields-park-staff-be-probed

It sure makes no sense that poaching of that scale can go on without some help from the inside.

Unfortunately, Namibia has no death penalty.

 

[siml]

Rather have them shunted out the back door than from live animals poached.

 

[johnnyblues]

The ban on trade in rhino horns has not stopped the poaching one bit, I believe it is time to make trade in rhino horns legal, surely it can't make the situation away worse. There are plenty of legal rhino horns in stock piles, flood the market, let the ranches that have rhino farm the horns.

Fantastic idea....This has to stop somehow or the children will only see them in school books.

 

[johnnyblues]

I will never understand the logic of burning those stock piles.

Use the money from selling them and put it right back into wildlife programs.

 

[robertq]

Hunting brings big money for conservation......
If it was a perfect world PETA and the anti's would put their money where there mouth is, just think what could happen........
I am going to start a new thread and ask for input regarding how do we get the various affected countries to send military troops collectively for anti-poaching maneuvers. The answer is obvious but how do we get others engaged in such a common sense approach? The thread will be called 'Anti-Poachers United'

 

[johnnyblues]

Something really smells rotten in Denmark. Maybe it's just my Brooklyn upbringing! Heads need to roll.

 

[johnnyblues]

Robert can't we bring in the gun manufactures, ammo makers etc ... These guys have big money and I m sure powerful layers. Let's face it they need sport hunting to continue all over the world. They will loose big revenue if this continues.

 

[robertq]

Press conference by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism 14:30 11 May 2015

Honorable Minister of Namibian Environment and Tourism (M.E.T.) said in summary as follows:

There has been an escalation of poaching in the last few months of high value species.

The M.E.T. is Reviewing current and future plans.

Sustainable use natural resources for the benefit for present and future generations.

Ministry of Environment and Tourism official statistics:
2014
24 Rhino
78 Elephant

2015 - newest statistic just released:
60 Rhino (54 in Etosha)
23 Elephant

NDF and NamPol are involved in joint patrolling Etosha, Bwabwata NP and Palmwag conservancy right now.

M.E.T. has revised their reward to N$ 60,000 for anyone supplying information for a positive arrest of Rhino poachers.

Matter of time before there will be arrests for Rhino poaching.

6 suspects have been arrested for Elephant poaching in 2016 in the Zambezi Region.

Prosecutor General is being talked to about appropriate sentences for wildlife crimes.

Enough is enough.

There are currently 140 people patrolling in Etosha.

The patrols have changed from carrying hunting rifles to automatic weapons.

M.E.T. is open for the private sectors help.