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Posted on 10/06/2003 2:25:34 AM PDT by Prodigal Son
Rebel soldiers are slaughtering the Northern White rhino and selling the horns to buy arms, reports Susan Bisset
One of the world's rarest rhinos has been hunted almost to extinction by rebel troops in Congo. There are now only 22 Northern White rhino alive in their last remaining wild refuge - down from 30 last year. Unless urgent action is taken, the rhino will be extinct within months, conservationists say.
The Northern White (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), a sub-species of the white rhino that used to be found across central Africa, is being killed by rebel troops for their horns, which they sell for more than £4,500 a pair to Yemeni craftsmen, who use them to make traditional daggers. The troops use the proceeds to buy guns, rocket launchers and grenades for their war against the government and rival factions.
Park rangers in Congo say that they are unable to protect the animals against the heavily armed rebels. One ranger has been killed in an ambush by the poachers and another injured.
The rebels - from Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda and Congo - are poaching the rhino from the Northern White's only refuge, the Garamba National Park in the north-east corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
One rhino was killed last month and rangers fear that more may be dead after a recent aerial survey spotted only 22 surviving animals. Hundreds of elephants, hippos and big cats have also been killed in the 2,000 sq mile park, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Cathy Dean, the director of Save the Rhino International, a British-based charity, says that the situation is catastrophic. "These rhinos are on the brink of extinction," she said. "Invading armies have reached the heart of the park and have realised that another way of earning income for arms is to shoot valuable species.
"For us to lose a whole sub-species would be disastrous."
Four of the five species of rhinos are critically endangered. In the 1940s there were at least 6,000 Northern Whites in Africa but that number was reduced to just 15 animals by 1985. As the result of the protection the rhino enjoyed in the Garamba National Park, the number had doubled to 30 in 1991.
The total number of rhinos in Africa fell from 70,000 in 1970 to a low of 10,000 in 1990 but has climbed back to 14,000. The most populous species is the Northern White's close relative, the Southern White, of which there are now 11,670.
Fraser Smith, of the Garamba National Park Project, said the risk to the Northern White is at its greatest since international conservation projects started 20 years ago.
"Not only are rebel factions poaching valuable species for rhino horn in return for hard currency but there is also a rise in commercial poaching for bushmeat," he said.
"The danger is exacerbated by the proximity of the park to the Sudanese border as well as the number of refugee centres neighbouring the park, which stemmed from the exodus from Sudan in 1991."
Mr Smith said that morale among park rangers had reached a low in March, when rebel poachers ambushed two patrols. The rangers were examining some bushmeat when the rebels threw hand grenades at them, killing one and leaving another with serious shoulder injuries.
The Northern White rhino is listed as critically endangered on the World Conservation Union's red list of threatened species.
The Northern White was once found in Chad, Uganda, Sudan and the Central African Republic; the only known wild population remaining is in Garamba. Ten more rhinos live in captivity at zoos in the Czech Republic and San Diego, California.
Only one Northern White rhino has been successfully bred in captivity in the past 10 years and the sub-species will be unable to reproduce in sustainable numbers if the number of rhinos in the wild falls below 15.
Ms Dean said: "There needs to be at least 12 or 15 individuals to make sure there is genetic diversity and competition between males to breed with the females. If there are too few of them, they tend to regard each other as brother and sister."
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CIA -- The World Factbook -- Zimbabwe
First it was Rhodesia then SA now America paying the price of silence.
-A Capsule History of Southern Africa--
| Parallels between Apartheid SA & USA today | |||||||||||||||
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ZWNEWS.com - linking the world to Zimbabwe MPR Books - Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African ... Title: "Cry, the Beloved Country" - Topics: World/South Africa The Coming Anarchy -South Africa - The sellout of a nation-- ------------------------------------------ ... anyone who is doubtful about the situation there, or perhaps curious about how much goes unmentioned & unreported by the laughingly-misnamed "watchdog press" need only click the "keyword: Africa Watch" or go here:
FYI, I wrote this a while back: I don't know what will happen in southern Africa beyond a general breakdown into chaos & anarchy... the old bugbear was the Soviets gaining control of the tip & choking our fleet's movements, coupled with control of the mineral wealth. Now it look like Quaddaffi is angling to take over Rhodesia and perhaps spread to South Africa. At this point, we are 20 years too late, but we can at least bear witness to the debacle. Bear in mind I am a partisan- I supported ( with reluctance ) the old white-minority governments in Rhodesia and South Africa, because I knew the Communists and their puppets- including proxies like Cuba- were angling for control of southern Africa. One big problem we have is our media. They have tried to portray the situation in southern Africa as a clone of our own civil-rights struggles when in fact just the opposite was true. Africa is degenerating into chaos and anarchy under the guise of "liberation" and "one man, one vote." All while the media here turns a blind eye to what is really happening. What I used to tell people was that while Apartheid was an onerous, offensive system, I would prefer being a black South African under Apartheid to being a person of any color under the old Soviet system- and I still believe those words to be true and correct. Given time, the old South African government would have worked out its problems- but it was not allowed to do so. Today, we are seeing the results of this folly in Zimbabwe- or rather, we see what tiny bits the web and small elements of talk radio cover. The whole story of contemporary Africa is a sad tale of tribalism, class warfare, kleptocracy, and massive corruption- and one the media here "won't even talk about" because it does not fit within their template of acceptable ideas. I would also add, that both the press and entertainment arms of the media encouraged and supported the toppling of the old governments, i. e., they were in collusion, and complicit in the fall. Now that things have worked out at variance with their idealistic fantasies, they simply "don't talk about it..." "Why do you keep posting this stuff? Nobody cares about Africa, anyway..." Clive, Cincinatus's Wife, blam, myself, and a few others get asked that occasionally- we are among the keepers of the "AfricaWatch" columns, and we continue to post articles about what I believe will prove to be one of the great, tragic stories of the new century. The mainstream press never publishes more than one Africa story a day, and it's usually some fluff or dodge around how grim the situation is over there. But the truth is archived here on Free Republic, and I maintain that one day, when things over there are too awful to be ignored any longer, those who have eyes to see will read the stories here, and be appalled at the silence. That is all... |
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A father chosing between his hungrey children and the fate of a species which he simply refers to as "money for food" really hasn't that much of a decision to make. People can become as upset as they want, but really, all this effort to protect and preserve such animals in these areas are hopeless until the issues which confront the local peoples are addressed.
Knowing the history of Africa and it's compassion towards it's own people, perhaps they'll follow Brasil's example and start a Space program.
Until such countries are capable of caring for their own and addressing the most basic and simple needs, there will never be an effective conservation program. Areas where the population is subject to continual warfare, abject poverty, disease and lack of any basic infrastructure while being subjected to governing oppressions are hopeless scenarios. Hungry people just don't care about it.
The Brazilians have the right idea with their space program. What you seem to be advocating is a form of Marxism- the gov't being a nanny state that must look after the people. The best thing the gov't can do for conservation is to respect and uphold private property. A nation that has no respect for private property will always be a shambles. In a free society, a man must look after himself. The government's role is limited to enforcing whatever laws are in effect in that nation- not to "looking after the basic needs of the people".
If you're a free man- your needs are your problem.
Thanks you! I thought PETA posted this thread. I'm sorry to hear about the impact on the invironment, but people are dying here. Certain people are also endangered in this part of the world.
Uhhh. So, private property rights is the problem in Africa?
What should the rhinos have done, had themselves shipped to a more peaceful part of the planet?
Evolutionary Theory has about as much to do with this article as would the hope that Box Turtles might recognize the danger of crossing a paved highway. Hunting an animal into extintion for monetary gain, imo, has nothing to do with natural seletion and evolution of a given species.
I can’t even imagine where you derive that from.
My point with the Space program in Brasil is that the Communist leader of that country pursued it over the basic functions that government specifically exists to provide.
Are you suggesting that government should not provide interstate highways, provisions for a sufficient waste management system and public utilities?
I believe these are major priorities that should be addressed before reaching for the stars, they will be there later.
On the other hand, governments are set up to provide the basics that a society needs to function. These are the major failures I am pointing out. If this is a form of “Marxism”, well, darn it, I’m at a loss because I thought that this was what government was for and should be limited to.
At any rate, I am continually astounded how most nations outside of America fail to grasp even the basics for building a similar society to that we are priviledged to experience.
Needless to say with the enviro-nuts and greens interfering, these societies will never evolve, but that's their plan to begin with I suppose.
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