Green Options

About 200 rhino have reportedly been killed by poachers in Zimbabwe over the last three years, and wildlife officials warn that international and regional poaching syndicates are benefiting from local cooperation.

Disappointing news: Zimbabwe may have lost a quarter of its rhino population in just three years, due to the increasing strength of organized poaching syndicates and a network of local support.

After a gun battle in Charara National park near Sanyati Gorge, park rangers shot and killed an elephant poacher, arrested three accomplices - and recovered an AK-47 rifle.

While out on patrol, two rangers stationed at Charara Safari Area and Tashinga National Parks came across the carcass of an elephant, who appeared to have been recently killed. As their regular rounds did not turn up any suspects, they decided to wait in ambush near the elephant’s carcass.

From the proposed bill to protect the North American black bear to the resurgence of elephant poaching in Kenya - and the skinning of a tiger inside an Indonesian zoo - the issues are not over yet.

Lions and tigers and bears … and elephants, whales, and rhino: Here are a few updates - as of today - on nine of my wildlife conservation posts. Four zoo posts are included, as zoos are (ideally) intended to be facilities for protecting precious wildlife.

In an intense international rescue and anti-poaching operation, 46 black rhino have been moved to safer areas - and eight poachers have been killed - in Zimbabwe.

Thanks to coverage by international media, public support, and international pressure from CITES, the International Rhino Foundation’s (IRF) Crisis Zimbabwe awareness campaign has reportedly raised more than $120,000 in emergency funds to rescue 46 black rhino from vulnerable areas in Zimbabwe. And since May, eight poachers have been killed during armed confrontations with police, compared to seven known rhino poaching losses in the Lowveld.

A shocking undercover journey reveals that a poaching cartel known as ‘The Crocodile Gang’, led by Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa, is slaughtering rhinos and elephants to fulfill ‘requests’ for horn and ivory.

Dubbed the Crocodile Gang, this cartel - whose existence can be revealed by the Mail today - is behind the ‘industrial-scale slaughter’ of black rhinos, prompting warnings that the species will be hunted to extinction in the region within two years.

And the “godfather” of the poaching cartel is said to be Emmerson Mnangagwa - known by locals now as “The Crocodile.” Also referred to as “The Butcher of Matabeleland”, he is the architect of Zimbabwe’s terrifying state security apparatus, creator of Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Office (CIO) - and rumored to be next in line for president after Mugabe.

Probably risking his life, Andrew Malone, a writer for The UK’s Daily Mail, reports that he went undercover, posing as an overseas buyer of illegal rhino horn to dig deeper into the widespread rhino massacre that stands to wipe out an entire species. What he reveals is an appalling world of cruelty, corruption, death threats - and the consequences suffered by those who have tried to speak out.

There are more than a billion hungry people in the world today.

Zimbabwe is currently home to the world’s fourth largest population of critically endangered Black Rhino. Although rhino killings in Zimbabwe have more than doubled in the past year, poachers continue to walk away without punishment for their crimes.

In a recent IRF press release, rhino conservation experts called upon international agencies and the Zimbabwe government to take immediate action against poaching of endangered species and to crack down on trade in wildlife products.

Tackling the situation in Zimbabwe is especially challenging because the rhino poaching in this area is planned and carried out by organized gangs. The attacks have become increasingly brazen - not only are rhinos being slaughtered, but the criminals have begun firing at the people protecting them.

Earlier this year, Raoul du Toit warned that Zimbabwe’s rhino poachers were not villagers desperate for food, but organized criminal gangs - people with “cars, cell phones, and expensive lawyers.”

And when poachers are apprehended, they are not punished.

Ngorongoro World Heritage Site Under Threat

Thirty years after being listed as a World Heritage Sites the Ngorongoro Conservation area is in danger of being ‘deleted’ from the prestigious listing. This legendary wildlife-filled crater, is a  8,300 square kilometer part of Tanzania’s Serengeti.

The United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has set the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority very tight goals which must be met if Ngorongoro is to retain its World Heritage Sites listing.

Around Matabeleland elephants have broken into the crop fields and eaten the crops being grown by villagers. As well as elephant, wild pigs and baboons from Hwange National Park have begun to roam into agricultural land, causing havoc wherever crops are grown.

On a recent trip to India, it finally dawned on me. I love Zimbabwe. Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t say I love the seesaw economy, the shoddy politics, the hypocrisy and the corruption that comes along with the nation. I simply hold an undying love for the place of my birth and its diverse people.

What is it about India that made me realise this, you might ask. Visiting the sacred temples and sampling the aromatic food was breath-taking. And losing myself within the crowds of anonymous people released me from all of the responsibility I have to shoulder in my ‘real’ existence everyday. But ultimately, I could not really turn to any one of those well-meaning people and look at any of them with a twinge of painful familiarity and say, “We’ve come a long way.”

Mopane worms are critical to nutrition and income generation for most households in those rural areas in Africa where the mopane tree grows. However, climate change and over harvesting of the worms as one of the few income generating opportunities in rural areas are threatening the species’ survival.

Mopane worms are the caterpillar stage of the Emperor Moth, Gonimbrasia belina, which feed almost exclusively on the mopane tree Colophospermum mopane. The mopane worm harvest in South Africa is estimated at $40 million a year, of which approximately 40 percent goes to producers who are primarily poor rural women. In addition to the income generated dried mopane worms can contribute significantly to rural household nutrition mainly through their 53.3 percent dry weight digestible protein content.