pockybot
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- Posted: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:29:41 +0000
Due to the belief by some people in Africa that Rhino tusks bring "magical powers", there's been an all out blitz by poachers in South Africa to poach as many Rhinos as possible in a quite spectacularly brutal method due to the money that's made.
But conservationists, are worried that at this rate it won't be too many years before all Rhinos are wiped out. At the turn of the century 50 Rhinos were alive, which has been brought up to 20,000. Conservationists try and spread "awareness", now and the sedate a Rhino to safely remove its tusks(they grow back in 2-3 years) but this mamby pamby pleasanty way of dealing with the issue hasn't put a micro dent in the problem.
Should force be used to save animals from total extinction, or even to save what's left of the rainforest? We've seen wars done in the name of oil, greed, religion, consolidating power, etc often under the auspices of "humanitarianism", but rarely has force been used to save something.
If conservationists own a large acreage of land, should they have the right to hire private mercenaries or themselves use deadly force to stop poachers if all else fails? I havent seen the argument made, but at this rate in a decade or less a lot of things seem like they'll simply be in the history books instead of actual living things.
http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/21/10466912-spike-in-rhino-poaching-threatens-survival-of-species
But conservationists, are worried that at this rate it won't be too many years before all Rhinos are wiped out. At the turn of the century 50 Rhinos were alive, which has been brought up to 20,000. Conservationists try and spread "awareness", now and the sedate a Rhino to safely remove its tusks(they grow back in 2-3 years) but this mamby pamby pleasanty way of dealing with the issue hasn't put a micro dent in the problem.
Should force be used to save animals from total extinction, or even to save what's left of the rainforest? We've seen wars done in the name of oil, greed, religion, consolidating power, etc often under the auspices of "humanitarianism", but rarely has force been used to save something.
If conservationists own a large acreage of land, should they have the right to hire private mercenaries or themselves use deadly force to stop poachers if all else fails? I havent seen the argument made, but at this rate in a decade or less a lot of things seem like they'll simply be in the history books instead of actual living things.
http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/21/10466912-spike-in-rhino-poaching-threatens-survival-of-species
Quote:
In South Africa, home to three quarters of the last remaining rhinos on the planet, conservationists, private game reserve owners and security forces are waging a desperate battle against poachers intent on killing the country’s rhinos for their lucrative horns.
“It is an epidemic. It’s a war that right now we’re losing,” Graeme Rushmere said. “It’s not a South African issue as such, it’s really a global issue.”
Rushmere owns Kariega Game Reserve, a nearly 25,000 acre private reserve. The reserve is home to critically endangered black rhinos and white rhinos.
Rhinos have roamed the Earth for millions of years, but at the turn of the twentieth century there were only about 50 white rhinos left in the world. All were in South Africa. Over the course of several decades, South Africans brought the white rhino back from the brink of extinction. Through incredible conservation work, there are almost 20,000 white rhinos today. The recent spike in poaching has South Africans worried that all of their hard work to save the rhino will be reversed.
Just a decade ago, only about a dozen rhinos were poached each year. Last year, poachers killed more than 400 rhinos.
For Graeme Rushmere and his friend and neighbor Dr. Will Fowlds, the fight to stop the poaching is personal. They lost one of their beloved rhinos, Geza, after his horn was brutally hacked off by poachers.
“It is an epidemic. It’s a war that right now we’re losing,” Graeme Rushmere said. “It’s not a South African issue as such, it’s really a global issue.”
Rushmere owns Kariega Game Reserve, a nearly 25,000 acre private reserve. The reserve is home to critically endangered black rhinos and white rhinos.
Rhinos have roamed the Earth for millions of years, but at the turn of the twentieth century there were only about 50 white rhinos left in the world. All were in South Africa. Over the course of several decades, South Africans brought the white rhino back from the brink of extinction. Through incredible conservation work, there are almost 20,000 white rhinos today. The recent spike in poaching has South Africans worried that all of their hard work to save the rhino will be reversed.
Just a decade ago, only about a dozen rhinos were poached each year. Last year, poachers killed more than 400 rhinos.
For Graeme Rushmere and his friend and neighbor Dr. Will Fowlds, the fight to stop the poaching is personal. They lost one of their beloved rhinos, Geza, after his horn was brutally hacked off by poachers.
