Organised crime taking out rhinos
2010-08-05 22:39
Johannesburg - Welfare and anti-cruelty legislation is never invoked in rhino incidents because rhinos are merely treated as tradable commodities, Animal Rights Africa (Ara) said on Thursday.
"At the very least, 300 rhinos will die horrible and painful deaths in South Africa in 2010," said Ara spokesperson Michele Pickover.
"Yet astonishingly, the perpetrators caught for these unspeakable acts of cruelty are never prosecuted under the Animal Protection Act but rather for the possession of illegal wildlife products," she said.
She said the South African public should not be surprised that anti-cruelty legislation is not invoked because treating rhinos as a commodity, instead of a living animal, is the cornerstone of South Africa's approach to conservation.
In a recent statement Dr David Mabunda, Chief Executive of the South African National Parks (Sanparks) commented on their approach to rhino poaching:
"Perhaps it is no longer appropriate to refer to this spate of illegal killing of rhinos as poaching, given the levels of sophistication behind it.
"We are dealing with unprecedented high levels of organised crime which the Police and all security agencies are helping to defeat," he said.
"We have worked hard as a country, to bring this species back from the brink of extinction and we will continue to defend it even if we become the last man standing," he added.
Pickover referred to a report called ''Under Siege Rhinoceroses in South Africa", compiled a year ago which stated the following: "There is an urgent need to open the government policy and trophy hunting to public debate, impose an immediate moratorium on all capture, sale, trans-location and hunting of rhino in South Africa, and burn rhino horn stockpiles".
- SAPA