EXPERTS SAY ZIMBABWE RHINO IN “STATE OF CRISIS 

Yulee, FL; Zimbabwe; London – Leading rhino conservation experts, The International Rhino Foundation (IRF) and Save the Rhino, today called the rhino poaching situation in Zimbabwe “an immediate crisis with long-term consequences” and called for concerted action by the government of Zimbabwe and international agencies that are mandated to tackle poaching of endangered species and to regulate trade in wildlife products.
        
In a conference call held with reporters from across the globe, the IRF and Save the Rhino said continued inaction undermines the country’s economic recovery because rhino poaching is threatening one of the key economic pillars for Zimbabwe -- ecotourism. 

“Zimbabwe’s economic crisis is serious, but now Zimbabwe is in danger of losing its biological currency – rhinos and other wildlife,” said Dr. Susie Ellis, Executive Director of the IRF, which funds anti-poaching patrols in five countries.  “This high-value biological currency could be a key factor in turning around the economy through tourism - if we can act now to ensure it is not lost.”

Poaching of black and white rhinos in Zimbabwe has more than doubled in the past year and organized poaching gangs may have literally been getting away with murder.  Not only do the poachers slaughter rhinos, but they have also been firing on the people who try to protect them.

According to Save the Rhino, the London-based organization which supports on-going rhino conservation through financial and in-kind support, the combined population of black and white rhinos was about 830 at the end of 2007, but by December 2008, the numbers had fallen to about 740, despite good birth rates. Already in 2009, 18 rhinos have been slaughtered by poachers who kill the one- ton animals for their horn.  Because of collapsing law-enforcement efforts, not a single Zimbabwean rhino poacher has been sentenced in a court during the past three years.  

“Most rhino horn is sold on the black market for use in traditional Asian medicine,” said Save the Rhino’s Cathy Dean.  “In these cultures, horn is believed to reduce fever, rather than to be an aphrodisiac, which is a media myth.  In some Middle Eastern countries, even though it is illegal, rhino horn is used for ornamental dagger handles – a status symbol procured at a terrible cost.”

ECONOMY, TOURISM COLLAPSING

Zimbabwe’s economy has all but collapsed in the last several years.  Cholera has killed more than 4,000 people.  Food is scarce and many people are starving, largely due to fast-track land reformation that has decimated the country’s farming industry.  Inflation reached 80 billion percent before the Zimbabwean currency had to be totally abandoned, even by the government that had simply been printing money to finance itself. 

Tourism was once a key source of revenue for Zimbabwe, and is a sector with the potential to regenerate quickly.  The basic infrastructure, although in need of sprucing up, is in place.  But, Zimbabwe must plan and act decisively in a forward-thinking manner if it is to experience an economic revival. 

According to Raoul du Toit, Director of Zimbabwe’s Lowveld Rhino Trust, “We must attach an economic value to rhinos so that local people can be given businesslike financial incentives to protect assets of which  they should be co-owners. It is our best hope for the future.”

RHINOS IN ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe is home to the world’s fourth largest population of the Critically Endangered black rhinos.  By the end of 2008, eighty percent of Zimbabwe’s 460 black rhinos and half of its 280 white rhinos lived in the country’s lowveld conservancies – low elevation wooded savannahs in the southeast part of the country.  These large tracts of land, converted from cattle ranches to wildlife management areas, were created to safeguard these highly threatened species.  Despite recent losses, the lowveld conservancies, monitored by the Lowveld Rhino Trust and linked with Zimbabwe’s Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, still hold 360 black rhinos and provide the best hope for their survival.  [include Zimbabwe map w/ Lowveld Conservancies]

The Lowveld Rhino Trust manages rhino monitoring and anti-poaching units.  Its rhino operations team anesthetized and treated 115 rhinos in 2008.  Treatments ranged from wire snare removal and pre-emptive horn removal to reduce the risk of poaching, to translocations of animals to safer areas.  The Trust is increasingly being forced to undertake emergency operations to rescue rhinos as poaching has increased. 

“We project that we will need to move as many as 50-60 rhinos out of vulnerable areas in 2009,” said du Toit, of the Lowveld Rhino Trust.  “Without intervention, rhino groups in some of the more vulnerable areas will definitely be lost.  In the Midlands Conservancy, for example, the black rhino population has declined from 45 a few years ago to about five animals now.  We don’t want to see those losses repeated elsewhere.”

THE TRAGIC REALITY

Just after dawn in early March, Sinikwe, a black rhino cow, and her 16-month-old calf were ambushed by poachers in the thick brush.  Sinikwe escaped with gunshot wounds. Her calf was shot and killed – its horn hacked off with an axe minutes after its death.  Weeks later, a rhino monitoring unit that is checking on Sinikwe’s recovery sees that she is still returning regularly to her calf’s carcass.  The poachers also know of her unwillingness to abandon her calf. Their footprints have been seen recently, following hers from the dead calf.  

Poachers generally target adults, who have large horns that provide a bigger profit.  Rhino calves, still nursing and too young to survive on their own, are often left behind in the slaughter, sometimes with life-threatening injuries. Increasingly, injured and orphaned calves have to be rescued and bottle-reared until they are old enough to be released.  The Lowveld Rhino Trust has had to rescue five orphan calves over the past year, two of which are soon to be released back into the wild after successful hand-rearing. 

Because of the constant poaching pressure, Lowveld rhino monitors become deeply concerned if their charges are not accounted for at all times.  After Diniwe, a ten-year-old cow, disappeared for several weeks recently, Conservancy rhino teams became worried she had been poached. The teams made a specific search for her, and finally located her, hiding in the bush with her weeks-old calf  – a welcome sign of some hope for the future.  [insert photo of Diniwe’s calf]
The International Rhino Foundation is dedicated to the survival of the world’s rhino species through conservation and research. Visit www.rhinos-irf.org to learn more about the poaching crisis in Zimbabwe.