RHINO DE-HORNING – A SAD STORY

The helicopter taking off..

It was early one morning when the sky was just turning red with the rising sun.  The nocturnal animals were giving their final call for the night and the birds singing in a new day, when the peace was disturbed by the noise of a helicopter coming in to land.  The pilot and two vets alighted from the machine and came over to ask if we were interested in witnessing the de-horning of a rhino.  We all readily agreed.

                                                                                                                                             

                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                    

Poaching of rhino got to epidemic proportions in the early 1900’s mainly by poachers hacking off the horns and selling them to the Far East for exorbitant prices for several uses including: an alleged remedy against fever, gout, rheumatism, and many other non life threatening ailments, an alleged cure against aggressive cancer, ornamental use, an aphrodisiac (this is denied by the Chinese themselves), and Yambiya handles in Yemen. Amid  controversy it was decided that having this valuable horn going around on four legs was not easy for National Parks anti-poaching teams to protect, so was decided that by de-horning the rhino there would be a better chance of the survival of these prehistoric beasts.

We were given a two-way radio so that we could communicate with the pilot, and he could inform us as to where to go.  With a whirr of the blades and a cloud of dust the helicopter took off, so we all rushed off and grabbed cameras and hats and piled into the vehicle and headed in the direction that we were given, down one of the two lane tracks, with our hearts hammering not sure what to expect. 

The pilot suddenly informed us that they had located a large male rhino and gave us direction, so we then headed off the tracks and ‘bundu bashed’ through thick vegetation until we arrived at the location.  By the time that we arrived one of the vets had already darted the rhino from the helicopter and he was lying peacefully on the ground unaware of what was about to happen to his masculinity, they had placed a cloth over his eyes for protection from the sun.  The vets were busy measuring the beast, checking his blood and checking his heart rate.  All of a sudden the National Parks vet started up the chain saw and started sawing off the sleeping patient’s horn.  The smell was horrendous, as it smelt like burnt nails.  The team worked exceptionally fast even though to us it seemed to take forever listening to the sawing and smelling the horn.  The National Parks Scouts then painted a number on his side and he was tagged in the ear.  We all then had to clear out and get to the safety of our vehicles while the vet gave an anti-dote for the rhino to wake up.



Checking the heart

Sawing off the horn

Putting tar on the after the horn taken off

Number the rhino

Measuring the anti-dote





Unfortunately, by de-horning as many rhino as they could it did not really help the population, as the poachers continued slaughtering the rhino and instead of a horn now they hacked off the tagged ear to given to their dealers to prove that the rhino has been de-horned and maybe they would still get some money for their efforts, and also if a de-horned rhino was killed, bit would save time in tracking these hornless mammals.  Poachers are prepared to remove any amount of horns, including the small stubs on rhino calves, and therefore dehorning is unlikely to be an adequate deterrent. Dehorning will only reduce the temptation to potential poachers if the re‐growth is cut regularly to ensure that the horn mass remains very low. Zimbabwe reported that their dehorning effort was successful, but only if used in conjunction with traditional anti‐poaching measures such as regular patrols and population monitoring. Where we used to going out and seeing a rhino every day, it got down to you being lucky if we saw one at all!!

 

                                                                             The Team



                                                                                                                         



 



 









PHOTOGRAPHS OF NATIONAL PARKS STAFF

Sorry everyone, this week I am just going to post a whole lot of photographs of staff of National Parks as some folk are interested in them.  I know to some it will be a bore, as they have no idea who these people are, but to others who have been in the department, will find them very interesting.  Next blog I promise to get back to some stories, I have just been a kinda lazy lately.

I have decided today just to share some photo's with you as there was alot of interest on Face Book for some old National Parks people and stories.  So sorry to bore the folk that are not interested, but will get back to stories next time.

FOLK TALES

Dad had had a complaint from a local village of a man-eating lion that was causing undue stress to their settlement and had already eaten two people. The first was a truck driver that had spent the night on the side of the road and the second was one of the villagers who had been sitting around the fire when someone had thrown a log on the fire causing sparks to fly up into the night sky.

Dad and two game scouts went to the village to try and kill this man-eater. When night fell the two game scouts sat with their back against the wall and they had a bicycle propped up against the hut next to them, while Dad sat in the vehicle. They had heard the lion calling on and off during the night. In the early hours of the morning the one game scout decided to have a cigarette and as he lit his match the lion attacked the bicycle. In the morning they saw the pug marks of the lion and the bicycle was a bit mangled.






So the next night they decided to set up a bait, and they bought a goat and tied it to a very heavy log ( it took both game scouts to carry it). They build a platform in a tree and one of the game scouts sat in wait there while the other joined Dad in the vehicle, so that he could quickly put the windscreen down and put the head lights on, and Dad would then shoot. They sat quietly anticipating every second that ticked by . Finally the game scout put his hand on Dad’s knee and whispered “It’s here!” The game scout put the windscreen down, Dad got his rifle ready and when they switched on the head lights the goat and the log had gone. Hmmmm….. The game scout on the platform heard nothing.

Dad then decided to get some traps and torches from Head Office. He explained to the Chief of his intentions and the Chief said that they would never get the lion as a man from the village had slept with his sister. Dad then enquired about the truck driver and the Chief explained that he was a distant relative, and the other chap was a closer relation and this was a warning that the culprit would be next. The Chief explained that the man had to pay ZW$10 to the Spirits of the Lions before it would end. Dad asked why this had not happened yet. The Chief explained that it was too far for him to go to pay the fine. Dad said that he was going in that direction and he would take the guilty man to the Spirit of the Lion to pay his fine.

When Dad got back to Head Office he was immediately sent off on another errand so a fellow colleague took over. They went back to the village and spent four nights there. They heard the lion nightly, but each night further away until eventually there was nothing and no-one else was eaten.