African elephants, from a painting by Gail Van Lingen

Gland, Switzerland and Harare, Zimbabwe (GenevaLunch) – Evidence appears to be growing that poaching is on the rise in Zimbabwe and that international gangs are working with local poachers, based on converging reports from several sources. The increased poaching affects elephants and rhinos. Several species of both are on the protected species lists published by Gland-based IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature).

The government-run The Herald newspaper in Harare reported 3 November that at least 200 rhinos have been poached in the past three years, “as locals increasingly network with international syndicates in the illegal trade of the horns, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Natural Resources, Environment and Tourism” was told by parks officials 2 November. Reporters were asked to leave the room when statistics were given for the current population. The Herald estimates the populations for white and black rhinos to be 500 and 300 respectively.

IUCN in a press release put the numbers poached slightly higher following a Standing Committee meeting of Cites (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) when it met in Geneva in July 2009. “An estimated three rhinos were illegally killed each month in all of Africa from 2000-05, out of a population of around 18,000. In contrast, 12 rhinoceroses now are being poached each month in South Africa and Zimbabwe alone,” IUCN with WWF and Traffic, their joint monitoring agency, reported to Cites. Their report noted that “Illegal rhino horn trade to destinations in Asia is driving the killing, with growing evidence of involvement of Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai nationals in the illegal procurement and transport of rhino horn out of Africa.”

Swiss news agency ATS 16 November quotes Zimbabwe parks official Vitalis Chadenga as saying that international gangsters have been involved in killing 65 elephants and 35 rhinoceroses since the start of 2009. The Herald in Harare quotes Director of National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority Morris Mutsambiwa as saying that, while 86 poachers have been arrrested to date in 2009, funds are woefully inadequate to catch them and deterrents are not strong enough. Cattle rustlers face up to nine years in jail, a far tougher penalty than those for poachers. “We haven’t been able to generate enough revenue for rhino protection. KwaZulu-Natal, (in South Africa) spends US$3 000 per square kilometre while we spend less than US$10 (on the same area),” he says in the Herald.

Traffic, the sister organization of IUCN and WWF which monitors endangered species, reported 10 November that illegal trafficking is up strongly throughout Africa.

Trade in  endangered species has been regulated by Cites since the convention entered into force in 1975.

Background, IUCN

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