A dehorning of a rhino (Photo: Photos: Justin Sullivan)
Sustained efforts to crack down on rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park and the Greater Kruger area are finally paying off, with the park not reporting a single case of rhino poaching in December. Rhino poaching in the Greater Kruger area is also estimated to have decreased by 95% in the past four years.
Role players with whom Rhewal spoke are firmly convinced that the dehorning of rhinos, together with the use of technology and community involvement, is decisive for the decrease in poaching.
“The dehorning of rhinos, which is implemented together with other methods and safety measures, is a winning recipe in the fight against rhino poaching,” says Dr. Ben Muller, a veterinarian from Wildscapes veterinary and conservation services in Hoedspruit, Limpopo. Muller and his partner, Dr. Joel Alves, dehorning rhinos himself in the Greater Kruger area.
The rhino feels no pain during the dehorning (Photo: Photos: Justin Sullivan)
The dehorning of rhinos has become a common phenomenon in South Africa in the last ten years as the number of poaching activities has increased.
“Although this is a dramatic measure, it is a quick, painless procedure that has already saved the lives of many rhinos,” says Muller.
A horn takes about three years to grow back.
According to Muller, poachers will think twice before poaching a rhino without a horn, because the small piece of horn is of no value to them.
“The poachers are looking for a whole horn. They will not bother to risk their own lives or be arrested just for a stub.”
According to Sharon Haussmann, CEO of the Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Forum (GKEPF), intensive research is currently being conducted to determine whether dehorning has an impact on the rhino’s well-being.
“So far it seems as if dehorning does not affect the rhino in any way,” says Haussman.
Watch here how Muller explains the dehorning process:
Technology, communities harnessed
Rhino dehorning is the big secret behind the decline in rhino poaching (Photo: Photos: Justin Sullivan)
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment has in February announced the game park and other national parks had 40% fewer rhino poaching cases in 2022. A total of 124 incidents of poaching were reported in the game park last year, significantly less than the 209 cases recorded in 2021.
The Greater Kruger area has anti-poaching units (with exceptional skills and advanced technology) deployed on the ground day and night to patrol areas that pose a risk of poaching. These units work closely with intelligence units that receive information about poachers even before the poachers attack an area.
Along with the ground crews, air support is deployed to capture the poachers. Trained dogs also play a cardinal role in sniffing out poachers and helping to apprehend them, and the wildlife park has cameras everywhere – which pick up any movement that is not that of animals.
Jana Meyer of Hope for Wildlife helicopter services (Photo: Anja van der Merwe/Rhewal)
Jana Meyer of Hope for Wildlife helicopter services works closely with the anti-poaching units’ ground teams and says they depend on each other’s support.
“The ground crews will talk the helicopter into an area. The ground crews wear flip-up hats on their heads, with a bright orange mark on top so I can spot them at first glance. Sometimes they will also hold a white cloth in the air for identification,” says Meyer.
According to Haussmann, the financial injections from private landowners, overseas partners and companies also gave anti-poaching units a boost.
Tinyiko Golele, regional ranger in the south of the Kruger National Park (Photo: Anja van der Merwe/Rhewal)
Tinyiko Golele, regional ranger in the south of the Kruger National Park, says the park has a proactive security plan that is carried out together with the police, the South African National Defense Force (SANW) and the surrounding communities to curb rhino poaching.
According to Golele, risk areas are identified with the help of crime intelligence to determine poachers’ new tendencies, where they may strike and where the game park can channel extra resources. Rangers are then deployed in those areas to patrol.
“Sometimes rangers are also deployed on covert operations in these areas, when they camp out in the field for up to two weeks and monitor the area,” says Golele.
Golele will pre-determine rangers’ physical and mental readiness.
“Our work is challenging and dangerous, not because of the animals we may encounter, but the people who enter the wildlife park from outside. We have already lost rangers in shooting incidents with poachers.”
The wildlife park also has a good relationship with the communities on the western border of the wildlife park and work together to stop poachers.
“Members in the community help us patrol the border and be on the lookout for suspicious activity.
“We also hold regular discussions with traditional leaders in the community to motivate them not to buy illegal animal products.”
