As the demand for rhino horn in China, Vietnam, and other Asian countries increases, poaching rates in southern Africa have soared sky high. More than 400 rhinos have been lost this year in South Africa alone.
Responding to high demand and high prices, poaching gangs are becoming more sophisticated, more vicious and much harder to catch.
South African authorities estimate that only 3% of rhino poachers are convicted - they are literally getting away with murder. But there are thousands of dedicated, passionate rangers in South Africa and Zimbabwe, standing in between the rhinos and the poachers.
Try to imagine that you are one of the brave rangers committed to protecting these beautiful animals. You've agreed to spend weeks at a time on patrol in the bush, away from your home and family, to monitor rhinos and to protect them from poachers. You're tasked with tracking and arresting poachers, often without even basic equipment like binoculars, radios, GPS, flashlights, or tents. And you're facing well-organized criminal gangs armed with machine guns, sophisticated animal tracking equipment, and even small planes.
It's an unbelievably difficult and dangerous job, and yet, every day, hundreds of rangers in Zimbabwe and South Africa put their lives on the line to protect rhinos - and they need our help.
The project is simple.
IRF has partnered with security experts in South Africa to improve anti-poaching operations in eleven highly threatened rhino habitats in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Our security experts will assess the current operations in each protected area, and will then provide targeted training and basic equipment to rangers. Rangers will be trained in investigative techniques, intelligence gathering, evidence collection, communications, and rhino identification and monitoring, among other topics. They will also receive scene-of-crime kits containing basic investigation equipment including a camera, metal detector, GPS, finger-printing materials, and sealable evidence bags.
The impact is big.
One of our partners has already conducted training on rhino crime investigation and prosecution for law enforcement officials in several hard-hit provinces of Zimbabwe. Just six months after the training, we've seen a marked increase in successful convictions and more severe sentences, with nine poachers already sentenced to between 10 to 20 years in jail each. With provision of equipment, training and advocacy, the rate of poaching convictions in Zimbabwe has risen from just 3% two years ago to 22% today. With just a little more help, we can make that rate much higher.
From today through December 31st, every dollar you contribute will be matched by an IRF donor. Double your impact, and please help us stop poaching now!
The poaching losses in Africa are heartbreaking. Every day, we see pictures of rhinos with their horns cut off, left to bleed to death on the ground. But there is hope.
Rhinos are resilient, and the tireless rangers working to protect them will not give up. With just a little help, we can paint a different picture - of healthy rhino moms with newborn calves, and of rhino populations growing and spreading out across southern Africa.
2011 has been a tough year for rhinos, but 2012 doesn't have to be.
Help us make 2012 “The Year of the Rhino," and create a safer world for African rhinos.
Source: International Rhino Foundation.
