Activist ‘led drone chaos at Heathrow’
Poachers slaughter rare rhinos for black market
PROTESTS Julian Hallam A CLIMATE activist charged with trying to use drones to disrupt flights told a court expanding Heathrow was a “crime against humanity”.
Julian Roger Hallam, 53, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, is accused of conspiring to cause a public nuisance at Heathrow between August 1 and September 14.
He was arrested on Saturday for breaching police bail conditions.
An Extinction Rebellion splinter group, Heathrow Pause, tried to interrupt flights by flying drones within the airport’s 5km exclusion zone, Uxbridge magistrates heard.
Hallam, of Wandsworth, South West London, was remanded in custody and will next appear in court on October 14.
TWO rhinos lie butchered after poachers hacked them to death with a chainsaw to steal their horns.
The sickening photos were taken in the Okavango Delta, northern Botswana, and they graphically illustrate the brutal trade in poaching and trophy hunting.
The carcasses were found in Mombo, a privately owned sanctuary inside the protected Moremi Game Reserve.
Eduardo Goncalves, of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, said: “Rhino horn is worth more than gold and heroin on the black market.
“All poaching and trophy hunting needs to be stopped if we have any chance of saving these magnificent animals. This means a global ban backed up by tough punishments.” Botswana is seeing its worst poaching crisis in years. Former president Ian Khama banned all trophy hunting in 2014 and brought in a shoot-to-kill policy on poachers.
But current president Mokgweetsi Masisi overturned his predecessor’s ban and disbanded anti-poaching units. Reports of rhino poaching in the country resurfaced last month. Last week, the carcasses pictured above were found.
It comes just days after Botswana officially allowed elephant trophy hunting to recommence, after it was banned in 2014. Crime agency Interpol has named Rhinos were hacked by poachers Huge threat to rare beasts
Botswana as a “main country of origin” for rhino horns smuggled into Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Last month, the CITES international wildlife trade conference approved the doubling of permits to trophy hunt critically endangered black rhinos. Mr Goncalves said: “Poachers often use trophy hunting permits to acquire rhino horns to sell on the black market.”
A report sent to Botswana’s government said 25 elephants were poached in recent weeks. Mr Goncalves added: “Botswana has effectively given the green light to killing endangered wildlife by restarting trophy hunting.”
Former cricketer Kevin Pietersen, who set up the SORAI project to protect infant rhinos, said the photos show “appalling brutality”. He added: “This is murder, pure and simple.”