The gains from the long-running war on rhino poaching may appear to be depressingly small, but a visit to the Kruger National Park by a Vietnamese delegation points to a multi-faceted approach which it is hoped will bear fruit.
Just as poaching syndicates have become more sophisticated, so has the battle to contain them. DNA evidence is now being used to help convict poachers; a para-military operation to stop the killers has been established in the Kruger; moves are afoot to pressure Mozambican authorities to take action against their poachers; and now a Vietnamese delegation has been exposed to the full horror of the slaughter of rhino.
On a recent visit to the park on a trip led by the Rhino Foundation, environmental activists from Vietnam were shown the rotting carcass of a recent victim. Their role is to return home and attempt to educate their compatriots about the wickedness of the shooting and de-horning of rhino to meet the superstitious belief that crushed horn cures a variety of ailments.
The Vietnamese pointed out that the lucrative trade is also spurred by the selfishness of the wealthy for whom possession and use of rhino horn is a status symbol. The attempt by Vietnamese activists to join the war on poaching is to be welcomed, although the effect they will be able to make in stopping their countrymen from fuelling the trade remains to be seen.
The war requires a “total onslaught” approach. This involves policing the Kruger and other reserves. It means Mozambique must introduce and enforce tougher legislation to stem the flood of poachers coming into the Kruger from that country. All of which form part of the vital campaign leading to the successful conviction of poachers and the smashing of their syndicates.
The Kruger Park anti-poaching units, who face heavily-armed poachers crossing the porous border with Mozambique, cannot by themselves begin to win this war.
The very survival of the rhino is at stake here, if they are not to become curiosities confined to zoos, having been illegally hunted to the point of extinction in our parks.