Green Options

The Masvingo regional court has sentenced a member of the Mazhongwe rhino poaching gang to 17 years in prison for killing an endangered rhino.

Justice - at last: Zimbabwe rhino poacher Tichaona Mutyairi has been sentenced to 17 years in jail for killing a rhino and firing on police in October 2009.

After years of letting the killers walk free, could this case finally be the turning point in the war against rhino poaching in Zimbabwe?

Wildlife conservationists in Zimbabwe are struggling to protect endangered rhinos - and now the uphill battle includes war veterans who have gotten into the rhino poaching business.

In yet another setback to Zimbabwe’s wildlife conservation efforts, war veterans settled near the Humani Estates in the Chiredzi District are allegedly poisoning rhinos living on a nearby game reserve in order to sell the horns to South African rhino horn dealers.

After losing about 26 percent of its rhino population to poachers, Zimbabwe now faces expulsion from the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES).

As a consequence of losing nearly 200 rhinos to rampant poaching over the last three years, Zimbabwe reportedly has six months to comply with CITES - or face expulsion.

A recent study points out that 95% of illegal African rhino killings since 2006 have occurred in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

A sobering report from the IUCN Species Survival Commission, African and Asian Rhino Specialist Groups, and TRAFFIC says that Africa’s rhino poaching crisis is far from over - and warns that the continued involvement of Chinese and Vietnamese nationals in rhinoceros-related crimes must be addressed by law enforcement in both Africa and Asia.

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.