Honouring rhino poaching fighters
KWAZULU-NATAL’S efforts to take on rhino poaching saw two local conservationists bring home awards this week, while Sharks rugby player Joe Pietersen, in his role as ambassador for WildAid, has also been out in the field to save the endangered species.
At the 2016 Rhino Conservation Awards held at Montecasino in Johannesburg this week, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife vet Dr Dave Cooper, who is based in St Lucia, received the best science research and technology award, while another Zululander, Sheelagh Antrobus, from Project Rhino, won best awareness, education or funding.
The awards were founded in 2012 by philanthropists Dr Larry Hansen and Xiaoyang Yu, with Prince Albert of Monaco serving as patron.
The gala event was attended by the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Tokozile Xasa, delegates of the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) and the Game Rangers Association of Africa, the founders, and representatives of the sponsor Zeiss.
Hansen said the goal was to eradicate poaching and the awards evening was held to “celebrate the significant roleplayers in rhino conservation is an essential element to maintaining morale and momentum”.
Awards went to recipients across Africa.
“These people often do selfless and unrecognised work to save our natural heritage that is in danger of being lost forever. Sometimes this happens in the face of physical danger, political opposition and severe financial constraints. These factors make the contribution of each player more worthy of recognition.”
Cooper, a veteran in the war against poaching, attends any poaching event in the provincial parks and, with his team, helps injured baby rhinos. They also process the evidence.
Yesterday, he said he was “honoured to have been recognised, especially in the company of other distinguished conservationists”.
He said rhinos could be extinct within a decade, with anti-poaching projects facing deep-seated corruption and complicity that goes high up in the “rhino mafia” and the international political hierarchy.
“No matter what we do on the ground, rhino will likely become extinct in the wild within a decade if those elements are not dealt with.”
His award was given largely because of the number of rhino, well over 2 000, he has immobilised and relocated. He is regarded as one of the leading experts in immobilisation, capture and transport and has been involved in the “Rhino Without Borders” project, which plans to move 100 rhinos to Botswana. He has also been involved in the relocation of more than 150 black rhinos to nine localities as part of the WWF Black Rhino Range expansion project.
Antrobus won her award for awareness and education after initiating region-wide anti-poaching initiatives, including ZAPWing, and raising more than R13 million to support anti-poaching efforts.
She said she was “humbled” by the award, but hoped it would bring more awareness to the plight of the rhinos. She said her stand against poaching started in 2011 when she saw photographs of Geza, a rhino, the victim of a horrific attack.
“Geza was one of the first rhinos to survive an attack that left him alive but with half his face chopped off. Something cracked in me: I felt physical pain. That moment changed my life. Geza died a few days later, but not my resolve to do something against poaching.”
She said with a concerted effort, rhinos could be saved.
This week also saw Sharks rugby fullback, Joe Pietersen visiting Thula Thula reserve to discuss anti-poaching strategies with visiting experts, including ex British Royal Marine Thomas O’Sullivan, as part of volunteer work with a UK-based charity, Veterans For Wildlife.
The popular player is WildAid ambassador and co-founder of Nkombe Rhino, an NPO set up to protect rhinos of the Blue Canyon Conservancy near Hoedspruit, Limpopo.
The area has recently been hit hard by poachers. Nkombe Rhino partnered with Isuzu SA to dehorn rhinos as a temporary measure to reduce the incentive to poach.
“It was an eye-opener, to be confronted by the tragic aftermath of poaching,” he said. “Poaching is out of control in South Africa, and we have to be doing more to take down the criminal kingpins behind it.
“Millions of jobs depend on wildlife tourism and WildAid’s research shows that all South Africans, regardless of race or income level, want to save our wildlife from poachers.”