Attack at rhino sanctuary
THERE has been international outrage and an outpouring of support for staff and volunteers at an Empangeni rhino orphanage following a brutal assault during the poaching of two calves.
Françoise Malby-Anthony, the managing director of the Thula Thula Game Reserve on which the Fundimvelo Thula Thula Rhino Orphanage is located, yesterday said driving to the scene in the early hours of Tuesday morning was surreal.
“I couldn’t believe it. ‘The orphanage has been hit,’ it sounded so unreal. It was a vision or horror, of insanity. They (victims) had managed to untie themselves but were so traumatised. These young, innocent, animal-loving volunteers were brutalised. They come to look after these lovable animals, it’s a tragedy,” she said.
The orphanage, on the North Coast, was the brainchild of her late husband Lawrence Anthony, acclaimed internationally as the Elephant Whisperer.
Karen Trendler, who runs the orphanage, said the poachers ambushed a security guard and took his firearm. They held him hostage while they disabled all the security cameras.
“People come here from all over the world to care for these rhinos. Most of them are orphaned because their mothers were poached in the first place,” said Trendler.
The volunteers, who live on-site, went to feed the rhinos at about 9pm on Monday and went back into the animal kitchen to clean up.
“That’s where the poachers ambushed them. They walked them back to the accommodation at gunpoint and tied them up before locking them in the office.”
Trendler said the volunteers had been receiving counselling.
“Everyone who was involved went through a huge amount of trauma. The brutality of this incident was just horrific.”
However, the news of the arrest of two men linked to the attack brought some relief, said Trendler.
According to police spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo, the men were nabbed on the road in an intelligence-driven operation by the Ermelo K9 Unit in Mpumalanga a day later. A hunting rifle and several rounds of ammunition were found.
Naidoo said the suspects were believed to have been among the group of eight men who attacked the orphanage.
Meanwhile, staff and volunteers at Thula Thula gathered to say goodbye to the two rhinos, 18month old calves Impi and Gugu. They had been shot and their horns hacked off.
One of the rhinos lived through the brutal attack but had to be put down later due to the severity of its injuries.
They were due to be relocated soon as part of the next step of their rehabilitation, said Trendler.
“The main aim of the orphanage is for them to be reintroduced to the environment they came from. Human access to the animals is controlled. They don’t have a lot of contact with outsiders, so it is easier for them to reintegrate when they are eventually released back into the wild. They would have been dehorned,” she said.
It seemed that the poachers knew this.
“It’s frightening how well planned it was. We have to presume they were gathering information for a while. They knew the routine, they knew who to look for, where to go… I still can’t believe it.”
Trendler and Malby-Anthony expressed gratitude for the compassion and support they’ve been receiving from all over the world.
A fundraising drive through www.generosity.com had been shared on social media 1 400 times and 420 people had donated more than $34 000 (R445 000).
The International Fund for Animal Welfare condemned the attack. Southern Africa regional director Dr Joseph Okori called it appalling and tragic.
Thula Thula had started dehorning its rhinos to protect them from poachers.
THERE would appear to be no let-up in the total onslaught against the country’s rhino population.
The crime of greed which sees the rhino poaching gang leaders paying handsomely has resulted in the lure of money being stronger than the fear of death.
Scores of suspects have been killed during contacts with security personnel but more worrying is that innocent rhino caregivers are now at the receiving end of the poachers’ brutality.
Earlier this week, a heavily-armed gang struck the Findimvelo Thula Rhino Orphanage in northern KwaZuluNatal, beating up staff and butchering two rhino. One woman was assaulted.
Karen Trender, who runs the orphanage, summed up the ruthlessness of the attack when she described the pain and trauma of the injured caregivers: “It is bad enough that they were physically attacked. However, for dedicated people to see the animals they nurtured from the brink of death as a result of poaching, being killed in front of their eyes, is beyond brutal.”
South Africa’s rhinoceroses – 70% of the world’s rhinos – are approaching a tipping point as mercenary and merciless gangs of poachers feed a global black market in the horns. In China and Vietnam the demand has driven up the price of rhino horn to rival that of gold.
While the Department of Environmental Affairs has yet to release statistics for rhino killings last year, the rhino care organisation, Outraged South African Citizens Against Rhino Poaching, said 622 rhinos were poached in the Kruger National Park alone, thus indicating that the wholesale decimation of the rhino population is still in full force.
More concerning is that there has been a notable increase in poaching in KZN where at least 159 rhinos were killed last year, compared to 104 in 2015.
Also worrying is that conviction rates are distressingly low despite an increase in the number of arrests. In 2015 there were 317 arrests but only 54 were prosecuted.
There is a need for an unprecedented alliance of wildlife bodies and government agencies to co-ordinate a global response to the trade in rhino horn, whether through medical science, technology or ground operations, all underpinned by political support to deal a deadly blow to the cartels that promote rhino horn poaching.
The genocide of rhino must be stopped at all costs. In other parts of Africa, entire populations of rhino are near extinction. How long before the only rhino in South Africa are the stuffed variety in museums?