New commercial poaching pressures Zimbabwe's rhinos

Date: 25 August 2003

Source: WWF

Author:Anon

Harare, Zimbabwe - WWF in collaboration with the Zimbabwean Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and other conservation agencies, is assisting in emergency responses to increasing rhino poaching pressures.

Since March 2002, at least sixteen black rhinos and several elephants have been slaughtered in the Matusadona and Hwange National Parks in northern and western Zimbabwe. The Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has responded through enhanced patrol efforts, despite crippling shortages of manpower, fuel and equipment. Four poachers have been killed in recent firefights, and several have been arrested.

WWF-funded operations enabled the relocation of 22 black rhinos from areas of high snaring risk to safer areas during 2002. Future operations are likely to be approved by the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority. Other supporting NGOs, in particular the Marwell Zimbabwe Trust, the Zambezi Society and the SAVE Foundation of Australia, have helped to deal with the new crisis of commercial rhino poaching in National Parks.

Over the past three years, at least fifteen black rhinos have died in these ranching areas as a consequence of indiscriminate snaring, adding to the ongoing problems of rhino snaring by subsistence poachers in conservancies. Further problems for Zimbabwe's rhinos arose in June when South African "sport" hunters were involved in the illegal slaughter of a black rhino in southern Zimbabwe.

"Prompt action is required by the South African and Zimbabwean authorities to deal with this recent case and to clamp down on the cross-border hunting forays by readily identifiable hunting parties," said Dr. Harrison Kojwang, Regional Representative for WWF in Southern Africa.

WWF's rhino specialist, Raoul du Toit, adds, "Whereas impoverished Zimbabweans may claim that they are driven to poaching in order to feed themselves, relatively wealthy sport hunters from South Africa have no such excuse - their unethical behaviour is driven by financial interests and by thrill-seeking."

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Zimbabwe's black rhino population fell from about 2000 to 370, due to commercial poaching perpetrated mainly by gangs from across the northern border. Effective conservation measures then rebuilt the population to about 500.

Recently, Zimbabwe's deteriorating economy and land disputes have stimulated poaching for "bushmeat", and rhinos are being caught in the wire snares. Unemployment and inflating costs of living are driving more and more Zimbabweans into informal occupations, including destructive activities such as uncontrolled gold panning and poaching. The consequent harvesting of wildlife and other natural resources is proving difficult for state conservation agencies to regulate. While it is impossible to quantify the overall loss of wildlife, estimates of 50 to 80 per cent of wildlife being lost from some former commercial farms, are widely reported.

"The resolution of internal poaching by rural communities is a long-term issue requiring the evolution of equitable and durable land reform arrangements within various sectors of Zimbabwe's complicated wildlife industry," warned Dr. Kojwang. "WWF stands ready to assist with technical support in developing these arrangements, which will take a great deal of effort and a willingness by all stakeholders to negotiate workable and sensible solutions on an area-by-area basis."

For further information:
WWF - Southern Africa Regional Programme Office
Tel. +263 (0)4 252533
E-mail: wwfsarpo@wwf.org.zw

NOTE TO EDITORS:
Investigations into the shooting of a young female rhino in a conservancy in southern Zimbabwe in June 2003 led to the identification of South African participants in this incident. Some South African hunters are taking advantage of the unsettled situation in Zimbabwe's rural areas to run illegal safari hunting operations. Members of this network pay small "trophy fees" to the occupiers of wildlife properties. They then shoot whatever animals they can (including elephants) for meat, hides and trophies, which they market illegally.