Today, the largest black rhino sancutary in East Africa, Ol Pejeta, reported that a black rhino calf and her mother have been killed. At 7.00pm on Thursday 1
Source: www.animalanswers.co.uk
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s Kruger National Park is considering a plan to move some rhinos out of the flagship wildlife reserve in an attempt to protect them from poachers.
Source: news.yahoo.com
GR: This is not a serious plan. Poachers can reach any park. Poachers represent international invasions into South Africa. National safety and defense are at stake. According to the Defense Ministry, the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) is currently in serious decline. Perhaps a few “advisers” and a few million dollars in aid to the right government agencies would benefit SANDF and encourage a military response.
CITES is currently meeting again. Discussions on the fate of our rhinos are taking place as you’re reading this.
As poachers kill, and rangers fight, CITES is talking. While the slaughter continues, CITES is handing out certificates.
Looking at the CITES agenda, some of the recommendations on the rhino are as follows:
*Mozambique should develop a national rhino horn action plan, with timeframes and milestones, and submit this to the Secretariat by 8th August 2014.
*Mozambique is requested to submit a comprehensive report on progress in the implementation of its national rhino action plan, and on any other action taken… to be submitted to the Secretariat by 31st January 2015.
*Viet Nam is requested to provide a further comprehensive report on actions taken…including, in particular, by providing an update on the implementation of the Prime Minister’s Directive On strengthening the direction and implementation of measures for controlling and protecting endangered, rare and precious wild animals, and a detailed update on update on arrests, seizures, prosecutions and penalties for offences related to illegal rhinoceros horn possession and trade in Viet Nam…to be submitted to the Secretariat by 31st January 2015.
And what happens if they don’t receive these reports? Or if the reports are showing these countries are failing? Non-compliance will be met with….what?
It is time to enact sanctions against the offending parties. Our wildlife deserves better than “talk”. It is time for action, swift and decisive action. There isn’t time for anything else.
Please sign: Lobby CITES to list the SA Southern White Rhino in Appendix one
CITES-Don’t legalize the sale of rhino horns worldwide
“To everything there is a balance. The web of all species is intricately connected, each relies on the others. When we let a species go extinct, we upset the balance. So if we fail the rhino, what will happen to the rest of the savanna? Rhinos are mega-herbivores, the lawn maintenance crew of the savanna. Their job to the ecosystem is to carve out paths for other creatures (eating), make water holes (digging), and to help germinate plants (defecating)” (Rhino Girl).
Environmentalists are formally urging President Barack Obama to enact trade sanctions on Mozambique over the country’s alleged chronic facilitation of elephant and rhinoceros poaching through broad swathes of southern Africa.
Source: allafrica.com
GR: Maybe we should just stick to our war on terra. Wildlife poaching and trafficking look too complicated for the Pentagon.
More blog posts:
Stop Corey Knowlton now! Sign the petition to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Corey Knowlton has been granted permission for the hunt by Namibia ; United States Fish and Wildlife Service permit to import the black rhino is pending.
Only 1,750 black rhinos remain in Namibia. The world is horrified! You might remember when the deal was done at Dallas Safari Club. Well, it is moving along.
Corey Knowlton, has killed 120 rare animals in the last 10 years , and he paid $350 thousand dollars for the rights to kill the black rhino. His goal is to provide entertainment. Read more from: secure.avaaz.org.
GR: The same thing goes on here in the U. S. This year the Arizona Game and Fish Department had to advertize to sell all the hunting permits it needed to sell. Some of those permits are for animals that are doomed by approaching development. They are going to become extinct anyway, so why not let hunters pay to kill a few. The Department needs the money.
Environmental Investigation Agency: Very good coverage by Nirmal Ghosh of yesterday’s Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime report.
Organised green crimes escalating.
FROM a Colombian rebel group that controls a tungsten mine to armed African groups that sell ivory, organised environmental crime is outpacing the ability of law enforcement agencies to control it, according to the Geneva-based Global Initiative a…gainst Transnational Organised Crime (Gitoc).
The reason: The impunity of so-called “kingpins” of crimes ranging from illegal wildlife trade – alone worth around US$19 billion (S$23.7 billion) a year – and illegal fishing estimated at US$23 billion, to logging and the trade of toxic waste.
Source: havehest.wordpress.com
Wildlife and Forest Crimes can be better understood in their complexity and disastrous effects through stories and case studies.
Source: wildleaks.org
Wildleaks gives whistleblowers and witnesses of wildlife crime a secure place to report their evidence.
GarryRogers Nature Conservation 