Save rhino battle at a fever pitch

THE battle against rhino poaching is at a fever pitch in South Africa, the country hardest hit by the scourge, spawning scores of fundraising campaigns running from glamorous to gory.

Carrying a trendy shopping bag or sporting a brightly beaded bracelet have become fashionable ways of flagging awareness of the plight of the rhino, whose horn is used in traditional Asian medicine in the false belief that it has powerful healing properties.

Meanwhile, some online campaigns seek donations with visceral images of a hacked rhino lying dead with blood and froth oozing from its eyes and mouth.

The slaughter has reached record levels in South Africa, with more than 200 of the animals killed so far this year after a record 450 in 2011.

But not everyone is impressed by the seemingly good gestures, with worries about fraudsters and whether donations reach the intended organizations.

“A lot of campaigns have recently surfaced from every direction. Donors should be careful which cause they support,” said Pelham Jones, chairman of the Private Rhino Owners Association, which represents private game reserves.

He said 272 fundraising organizations are now linked to rhino conservation, but he rates only 15 percent of them as credible.

“Some major corporates have made significant contributions toward various campaigns aimed at saving the rhino,” he said. “Other people are just collecting money for their own benefit.”

Wildlife organizations and parks are in dire need of resources to improve security and training of anti-poaching personnel and tracker dogs.

Rhino Force — the company founded last year to distribute merchandise like bracelets, scarves, beaded baby rhinos and music CDS — said proceeds of the sales are donated to the Endangered Wildlife Trust, an established charity.

With their heart-tugging slogan, “It’s Not a Bracelet... It’s Our Heritage,” Rhino Force aims to sell one million bracelets throughout the country.

“We can’t stand back and allow our heritage to disappear. I believe that each and every one of us can make a difference,” Rhino Force founder Joanne Lapin told AFP. “Each donation matters. I am not doing this for myself,” she added. So far, her group has sold 150,000 bracelets, raising about 1.1 million rands ($140,000, 100,000 euros) for the trust.

Highlighting the country’s devotion to rhinos, South Africa voted the animal as the official mascot for the national Olympic team.

The tubby beast named Ckukuru, clad in green shorts and a matching t-shirt, has a horn adorned with beads resembling the colors of the Olympic rings and the national flag.

“The fact that the public voted for the rhino as the official mascot shows the level of awareness they have developed around the threat of poaching and the need to stop it,” said Vinesh Maharaj, chief financial officer for the national Olympic committee.

Rhino poaching has been woven into the story line of a major soap opera.

A prominent radio station held an on-air public auction for a painting by a member of the Parlotones rock band, fetching 570,000 rands, which organizers say will be used to train tracker dogs.

And one of the country’s major banks, Nedbank, offers services that make donations to World Wildlife Fund-south Africa based on a client’s financial activity. Since the scheme began in 1990, the bank has donated 115 million rands. The rhino has become the program’s new poster image.

Overall donations to Wwfsouth Africa jumped nearly 20 percent last year, to almost 694,000 rands.

Aside from worries about how the money is being used, some are concerned that the campaign might be pushing the price of rhino horns even higher, making the illicit trade even more lucrative.

“We’re caught in the spiral of having to take action but then that action in turn increasing the price of rhino horn and therefore making it more attractive,” said Simon Gear of the Lead SA campaign, run by major media.