Rhino Rescue

Alright- It's time for me to suck it up and write about the rhinos. I've been avoiding it because it's a subject that's very near and dear to my heart & I'm afraid that I won't be able to do it justice. And I really want to influence people to care about it, even though it's not right in our back yard. But, if I keep putting it off, then I'll never write about it & I won't be influencing anyone that way... So here goes:

By now, you've probably heard that the Western Black Rhino was officially declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on Nov. 10, 2011.
Let me take a minute to clarify: when the IUCN declares a species extinct, that doesn't necessarily mean what you might be thinking it means. There ARE still some Western Black Rhinos alive in zoos and exotic animal sanctuaries.  However, there are no more wild animals of this species.

A mama and baby rhino. Aren't they cute?!

This was big news not that long ago, but most of what I saw written about it was very vague and not very informative. I found that these and other rhino species (the Northern White Rhino and the Javan Rhino are both considered "probably extinct" in the wild) were hunted to extinction by poachers, and that approximately 1/4 of all the worlds mammals are at risk of extinction (WOW- that's a lot... the Red List of endangered species contains over 62,000 species of plants and animals that are "endangered"!!) While both of those facts suck, neither was very surprising to me (most of us already know that the rhinos biggest threat are poachers and that there are a LOT of endangered species). I had two questions in particular that I had to do quite a bit more digging to find answers to. #1, what makes rhino horns so valuable & #2, what's being done to prevent other rhinoceros species from meeting the same fate?

The answer to my first question: What makes rhino horns so valuable? was pretty straight forward- people are greedy. Although it is true that in some places of the world simply owning a rhino horn is a coveted status symbol, this is not the main demand for them. The poaching of rhinos spiked shortly after the Longhui Pharmaceutical Company announced that it planned to sell rhino horn as a cancer treatment in 2005. They marketed it as "natural and without side effects" (I would say the execution of an entire species is a pretty big side effect, but I know that's not the kind of side effect they're talking about). Now, this pharmaceutical company can pretty much charge whatever they want. People will pay just about any amount for something that they believe cures cancer (and they do- rhino horn sells for $57,000/kg [one kg = 2.2 pounds]). But here's the really unethical part about this- there is absolutely no reason to believe that rhino horn has any curative properties whatsoever! These horns are made of keratin (the same protein that makes up human hair & nails) and nothing else. Scientists have done round after round of tests on keratin and determined that it has no use in medicine.

My second question was not quite so straight forward. What's being done to prevent other rhinoceros species from becoming extinct as well? ... Well, a whole lot of arguing about what the best next step is, is what's being done.
There is an internet petition to deny bail to all suspected rhino poachers. Unfortunately, it requires 50,000 signatures to even be considered & the last time I checked, they hadn't even gotten to 7,000. Here's the link to sign the petition if you're interested:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/no-bail-for-rhino-poachers/
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) hopes to establish new populations on new land by moving rhinos from high density areas to lower density areas. This will encourage them to breed faster. But there are quite a few kinks in this plan. For one thing, the land owners have to agree to allow the rhinos to be moved to their land and people do not want rhinos on their land because it brings poachers, guns, illegal activity and violence. Even without the poachers, it's a hard sale because there are very few benefits to having them around. The second problem that this plan has encountered is that by spreading out the rhino population, it makes it a lot harder to guard them, which means it makes them even more vulnerable to poachers. Regardless, the WWF has moved forward with it's plan and they seem to be showing some success.

A rhino being relocated (via helicopter) to its new home.

In South Africa (home to 93% of the continents rhinos) the government is considering dehorning the animals to make them less attractive to poachers. Even though veterinarians are able to tranquilize the rhinos and remove safe amounts of their horn without harming the animal, you can just imagine what animal rights groups are saying about that idea. 

Another idea seemed simple enough, increase the amount of rangers patrolling the borders of the Kruger National Park (home to one of the largest populations of rhino in Africa with approx. 19,500 white rhino and 1,700 black rhino). In 2011, 57 new rangers were hired and the government even deployed soldiers to help patrol the border. While this solution decreased poaching in the park, it also displaced poaching activities to other areas such as private reserves and game farms. 

I had such a hard time picking this picture (there are so many good ones). Do yourself a favor and image search Kruger National Park.

And the final option being discussed (and fought over) is the legalization of the sale of those horns acquired legally (when a rhino dies of natural causes or if they do end up dehorning the wild populations). I know this sounds crazy, but right now South Africa has a stockpile of these horns that they can't (legally) do anything with. The thought is, selling these horns will flood the market, bringing the price of the horns down and "taking the criminals profit incentive out of it." Then the money made from selling the horns can be used to finance further protection of the rhinos. This plan has obvious flaws, 1. How can we tell which horns were acquired legally and which ones were acquired through poaching? 2. We do not know how big the demand is or if the stockpile will even meet the demand. And 3. If you legalize it, more people will be willing to buy it. Studies show that when elephant tusks were sold legally, there has also been a spike in elephant poaching. 

So basically, there are a lot of options, but there's no way to tell which will bring results (I know- not exactly the answer you were looking for. I was just as disappointed, but at least now we know that people ARE trying to figure out a way to save these magnificent creatures). 

I had to put in a gruesome picture- you know, to really drive my point home. But don't worry- we'll leave on a happier note. Just keep reading =)

I do have a success story to share with you today though! At the end of the 19th century, the Southern White Rhino's wild population was down to below 100 animals. Now, thanks in part to captive breeding programs, their numbers are over 20,000. So there is hope! 

Southern White Rhinoceros with calf

I tried to avoid using too many statistics, but if you're interested- here's a link:

http://www.stoprhinopoaching.com/statistics.aspx