Six rhinos translocated from SA's Phinda Game reserve released back into the wild in Botswana

&Beyond has announced that six rhinos translocated from South Africa have been officially released to roam free in the Okavango Delta. The entrance to the boma where the animals have been acclimatised for the past few weeks was opened and one or two rhino ventured out at a time, returning to feed. Upon feeding, four rhino went out to explore, leaving two bulls behind. They were walking with intent, stopping to graze and drink water every now and then.It has also been confirmed that one of the three females is actually pregnant and will deliver a calf in five to six months’ time. All six rhino have been collared and microchipped for research and monitoring purposes and they will be tracked daily by the &Beyond research team. The information gathered will help guide and secure future translocations.Guests visiting the lodges in the Okavango Delta will also be able to enjoy guided nature walks with our expert guides to view these endangered animals in their new home. “Rhino poaching in South Africa has reached critical levels with two to three rhino poached every day and &Beyond continues to do all we can to protect this species,” read a statement from the company. Three suspected rhino poachers were arrested in the town of Jozini, just north of &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve on May 10th 2013.They were intercepted in a joint operation by the Phinda Anti-Poaching Unit (Nyathi APU Security), SAPS Empangeni Canine Unit, EKZN Wildlife and SAPS Durban Organised Crime Unit. With poaching at an all-time high, &Beyond therefore decided to move these six rhino from Phinda all the way to Botswana where they will be protected 24/7. Botswana has a strong security and monitoring framework in place whereby the Department of Wildlife Anti-Poaching Unit and the Botswana Defence Force help to protect the species. Source: Online

Vietnamese rhino horn dealers get light sentences in US court

The judge went easy on two Vietnamese rhino horn traders in the United States yesterday when she sentences one to 42 months and another to 46 month in prison. This was less than the sentences that the US Federal prosecutors called for. The father and son were also fined and ordered to pay compensation. Vinh Chuong “Jimmy” Kha, 50, and Felix Kha, 27, both of Garden Grove were arrested and charged last year with conspiracy, smuggling, wildlife trafficking in violation of the Lacey Act, money laundering and tax evasion. Vin Chuong Kha was sentenced to 42 months and Felix Kha was sentenced to 46 months. The prosecutors had called for 5 years and 6 years respectively. The judge, Christina Snyder, decided to reduce the sentences by a year each after hearing please from other family members and the story that Vinh Chuong Kha had left Vietnam when under communist control to bring up two sons single-handed in the United States by waiting on tables. The defendant claimed that they were not involved with the killing of any rhino as they were involved with the trafficking of old rhino horns from personal collections. They began the trade after stumbling across old rhino horn at an auction. The Kha’s began their rhino horn smuggling activities in 2008. Prosecutors though said that by creating a market and supplying a market for rhino horn they were guilty of encouraging the killing of rhino in Africa. Further the Kha’s were also involved with the bribing of a Vietnamese official with $150,000 to allow a shipment of rhino horn to go through customs. In addition to the prison sentences the pair were ordered to pay a $10,000 fine each and were also ordered to pay a $185,000 tax penalty. The pair also had their share of $2 million worth of rhino horns and proceeds of crime seized.A third defendant in the case, Win Lee Corp a company owned by Vinh Chuong Kha, was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine. All three defendants were also ordered to pay a total of $800,000 of restitution payments to the Multinational Species Conservation Fund, a statutorily created fund that is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to support international efforts to protect and conserve rhinos and other critically endangered species around the world. Source: Wildlife News (UK)

Deputy director of Kenyan elephant trust charged with illegal possession of ivory

By Kevin Heath, May 13th, 2013 One of the top officials of an elephant campaigning group in Kenya has been charged with illegal possession of ivory after 19Kg of ivory was found in the back of her car. Her son has also been jointly charged. Soila Sayialel is the deputy director of Kenyan campaign group Amboseli Trust for Elephants and was in charge of the community development arm of the charity. The group operates in the Kenyan Amboseli National Park. Sayialel and her son was arrested on Sunday and charged three counts of having ivory without permission. They have today been released on bail and will be pleading not guilty when their trial comes to court on June 17th. Robert Sayialel also worked for the Amboseli Trust for Elephants as a Technical Support Assistant.The couple were stopped by police about 90 miles south of Nairobi and the tusks discovered in the back of the car. The value of the ivory was estimated to be about US$20,000. The Trust has released a short statement in support of their employees but are consulting with lawyers before making any further comment. Soila claims that they have been framed by officials of the Kenyan Wildlife Service because of their work in protecting elephants. The Amboseli Trust for Elephants has an administrative, fund-raising and advocacy office in the United States, a program management office in Nairobi, and a field research office and camp in Amboseli national park. The Nairobi office provides a base for administration, project support and field support. It has been working with and studying the elephants of the park since 1972. The details of the three charges are: being in possession of Government trophies, dealing in trophies without a dealers’ license and failing to make a report of the trophies to the authorities. A KWS spokesman, Paul Mbugua, has said that the investigation into ivory poaching has been widened to include the Amboseli Trust for Elephants. “We have launched investigations into the activities of the Trust and once we find that it is engaging in wildlife related crimes then action will be taken against it,” warned Mbugua. Source: Wildlife News

Botswana calls for shoot-to-kill policy to deal with rhino poachers

The Deputy Speaker of the Botswana Parliament, Pono Moatlhodi, has called for the immediate introduction of a shoot to kill policy to tackle poachers targeting rhino and elephants in the country. His call for a new tougher stance against the poachers comes just days after Mozambique declared that the Limpopo National Park lost its last 15 rhino to the poachers. With the rising demand for rhino horn and elephant ivory from China and Vietnam there is the real fear that the loss of rhino from the Limpopo National Park could just be the first in a line of national parks that will lose their populations. Moatlhodi said that introducing the shoot-to-kill policy is essential to protect both the rhinos and the tourist trade of the country. Protecting the wildlife that the tourists come to see is essential if the country is to widen the strength of the economy and move beyond just being a diamond producing nation. He said that there are particular concerns for the rhinos and elephants of the Kasane region in the north of Botswana which is particularly popular with tourists. While the Botswana army has been deployed to patrol areas with high incidents of poaching particularly along the borders with Zambia and Namibia, Moatlhodi believes that giving permission to rangers, soldiers and police to shoot to kill while out on duty they will be much more effective at tackling the poachers. Saving the high profile species of elephants, rhino and gorillas will ensure that the growing tourism industry in the country has a long-term future. Source: Online

Tanzanian elephant population faces extinction within 7 years

Tanzania's jumbo elephant population could be wiped out in seven years if poaching continues at current rates, chairman of the parliamentary committee on land, environment and natural resources James Lembeli told the National Assembly recently. According to the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI), Tanzania had about 109,000 elephants in 2009, but fewer than 70,000 in 2012. "If this poaching trend is left unchecked, obviously the elephant population will disappear in the next seven years," Lembeli said, according to Tanzania's The Guardian. "This is a national disaster. The government and its agencies should take serious measures to address the problem." Lembeli called on the government to review the Wildlife Act of 2009, institute harsher punishments for poachers, hire more game rangers and procure adequate facilities and modern weapons to fight poaching. To this end, he requested a budget for his committee of almost 75.7 billion shillings ($46.5 million) for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. Source: Sabahi Online (Washington DC)

Tanzania to deploy army, drones in new anti-poaching campaign

By Deodatus Balile DAR es SALAAM — Tanzania is taking steps to combat the rise in elephant and rhinoceros poaching by deploying army personnel and camera-equipped drones to engage in anti-poaching operations. According to the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, poaching has drastically reduced the elephant population to fewer than 70,000 in 2012 from about 109,000 in 2009. Amid outcries from lawmakers about the increase in poaching, Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism Khamis Sued Kagasheki told parliament on Thursday (May 2nd) that President Jakaya Kikwete has authorised the deployment of army units for anti-poaching operations. "The president has issued the order," Kagasheki told parliament. "I have talked to Minister of Defence and National Service [Shamsi Vuai Nahodha] and we are at the final stages. I do not say when, but we are going to do something that will be remembered by generations to come." This is the second time the military has aided against poaching. In 1989, "Operation Uhai" helped the elephant population rebound after it reached a low of about 30,000, when it had been about 110,000 in 1976. Opposition lawmaker Peter Msigwa said he supports the president's decision to send in troops to ward off poachers, but said the government should have taken this action five years ago. "In 2008, the poaching problem was as big as it is now," he told Sabahi. "The public outcry to deploy the army was high, but the government did not want to listen to us." Countries should unite to stop the worldwide trade in "dirty tusks", he said, as this fast-growing illicit trade comes at the expense of Tanzania's natural resources. Before parliament on Friday, Gosbert Blandes, a lawmaker representing Karagwe district, said the proposed military operation should begin immediately."I want the minister to say now when is the operation starting? What are we hiding? It has to be immediate and not otherwise," he said. Kagasheki declined to reveal details about the plans for the military, saying that disclosing every detail could end up aiding poachers. However, he said it would start "soon" and that this time troops would use sophisticated equipment to help them ambush poachers. Opposition leader Freeman Mbowe said he was satisfied with the government's intention to use the army to fight poaching, but said the government should do more. "As a deterrent measure, we should change our laws to say clearly that whomever is caught involved in poaching should be sentenced to death," he told Sabahi. DRONES TO BE DEPLOYED Tanzania National Parks spokesperson Pascal Shelutete said the park service will use drones -- small, pilotless, remote-controlled aircraft equipped with cameras -- to monitor who enters the parks."It is a kind of improved closed-circuit television camera, which will facilitate monitoring all parks 24 hours," Shelutete told Sabahi, adding that the cameras are connected to computers via satellite. Similar projects have been implemented around the world. The World Wildlife Fund has a fleet of pilotless planes, which have helped protect Nepal's elephants, rhinoceros and tigers.In addition, projects in other African wildlife reserves are aided by the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF), which helps fund the acquisition of drones for conservationist efforts. "We are fighting a war against well-armed and informed poachers," the IAPF said on its website. "In the context of reducing poaching in dangerous environments, [unmanned aerial vehicles] provide a broad-reaching, safer and more cost-effective solution, allowing rangers to monitor a much greater mass of land whilst reducing their own exposure to dangerous and armed poachers." Tanzania's Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism Lazaro Nyalandu asked citizens to join the efforts against poachers by reporting to the authorities anything they see or hear linked to poaching. "The government cannot fight poaching war in isolation. We need to join hands as Tanzanians to fight poachers as a way to preserve our natural resources," he said addressing parliament on Friday. "Let us build the habit of reporting anything we are seeing likely to endanger our elephants, rhinos and all other natural resources." Source: Sabahi Online (Washington DC)

Last 15 known rhinos killed in Mozambique's Gaza National Park

The last known rhinoceroses in Mozambique have been wiped out by poachers apparently working in cahoots with the game rangers responsible for protecting them, it has emerged. Wildlife authorities believe the poachers were able to track the rhinoceroses with the help of game rangers working in the Limpopo National Par The 15 threatened animals were shot dead for their horns last month in the Mozambican part of Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which also covers South Africa and Zimbabwe. They were thought to be the last of an estimated 300 that roamed through the special conservation area when it was established as "the world's greatest animal kingdom" in a treaty signed by the three countries' then presidents in 2002. The latest deaths, and Mozambique's failure to tackle poaching, has prompted threats by South Africa to re-erect fences between their reserves. Wildlife authorities believe the poachers were able to track the rhinoceroses with the help of game rangers working in the Limpopo National Park, as the Mozambican side of the reserve is known. A total of 30 rangers are due in court in the coming weeks, charged with collusion in the creatures' deaths, according to the park's administrators.Conservationists say the poorly-paid rangers were vulnerable to corruption by organised poaching gangs, who target rhinoceroses for their horns which are prized in Asia for their reputed aphrodisiac and cancer-curing properties. The trade in rhino horn has seen the numbers of rhino killed spiral in recent years. Over the border in Kruger, the South African part of the transfrontier park, 180 have been killed so far this year, out of a national total of 249. Last year, 668 rhino were poached in South Africa, a 50 per cent increase over the previous year. Kelvin Alie, from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said the fact that the rangers may have been turned while working on such an important conservation initiative "speaks volumes about the deadly intent of the wildlife trade. They will stop at nothing to get to their quarry," he said. "It is tragic beyond tears that we learn game rangers have now become the enemy in the fight to protect rhino from being poached for their horns." A spokesman for South Africa's environment minister said she would be meeting her Mozambican counterpart in the coming weeks amid concerns that the country is not pulling its weight in the battle against poaching. "Clearly the open fence agreement has become an open season for poachers," Albi Modise said. "Rangers in the Kruger National Park are engaged in daily battles with Mozambican poachers." Dr Jo Shaw, from the World Wide Fund for Nature, said the rhinoceroses had probably crossed into Mozambique from Kruger. Whereas killing a rhino in South Africa can attract stricter punishments than killing a person, in Mozambique offenders generally escape with a fine if they are prosecuted at all. "Rhinos being killed in Kruger are mostly by Mozambican poachers who then move the horns out through their airports and seaports," she said. "With huge governance and corruption issues in Mozambique, it's a huge challenge." Source: Online