South Africa safari: Crisis in Kruger National Park

Article at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/africaandindianocean/southafrica/8462776/South-Africa-safari-Crisis-in-Kruger-National-Park.html

I found this article interesting and decided to post it so all could read it. I wasn't aware that China is setting up her own breeding program for endangered animals to be used for their traditional medicine.

The article stated: "It’s organised, sophisticated poaching, using helicopters, night-vision equipment and drugs to dart the rhino. The trigger appears to be the growing belief in Thailand, Vietnam and China that powdered rhino horn can cure cancer and several other serious diseases; a shift from the previous and equally preposterous belief that powdered horn serves as a reliable aphrodisiac.

The Chinese government, rather than debunking these myths, is funding studies and proposals that advocate the breeding of “endangered medicinal-use animals”, thereby stoking the fires of the new poaching epidemic. Both Zimbabwe and Kenya have reported a recent surge in rhino deaths, but South Africa, with the largest rhino population, has been hit the hardest.?

I've always been aware that elephants have long-term memories. Daphne Sheldrick says that if you blow in an elephant's trunk they will remember your smell always and be able to recognize you. However, the example given in the article is a little surprising. The author states,

"Sir Ian Botham visiting the facility some years back.

“We introduced him to one of our elephants as Beefy and he fed the elephant and spent a bit of time around him. Then when Botham came back 18 months later we asked him to join a semicircle of people around the same elephant. We dropped a hat in the middle and asked the elephant to pick it up and give it to Beefy. He passed up and down the line and then without hesitation gave the hat to Beefy. It’s very difficult to talk about culling when you have this relationship with elephants.”

They truly are remarkable animals. I hope you also learned something new from the article.

It gets worse (sorry guys)
Our UK director is researching this issue of China emptying the plains of Africa, and from CITES and SA government statistics has discovered:
92 lion carcasses having been exported from South Africa's North West Province to Lao PDR in 2009; and
235 lion carcasses having been exported from South Africa's North West Province to Lao PDR in 2010

So the canned lion breeding has yet another financial spin-off: externalise all rearing costs by renting out the cub for tourists to play with and be photographed with, let tourists pay to walk with young lions, sell the adult lion to a canned hunter and finally, sell the carcase to unscrupulous Asian companies/front men for the Chinese medicine industry.
How profitable!

Chris:

Thank you so much for enlightening us with these figures. And "They" claim there is no connection to China. BULL!!! The entire canned hunting business is truly disgusting and barbaric. I know a lot of my countrymen are a big part of the problem and help to keep the canned hunting going by getting their jollies from having a stuffed lion on the wall. I had thought that the SA government had agreed to stop it. What is the story behind it continuing? Corruption again?

Perhaps if it were put in terms people could better understand more people would get involved.
For instance, if you raised a pet dog (or even a child) for 1 - 5 years that you had fed, given medical attention to and supposedly cared for, and someone came and offered money to you to shoot them, would you just open the back door and let them be shot in their backyard in front of you with no chance of escape? Most people living in urban areas around the world have never seen a lion nor can they equate what is happening to these magnificent animals. But if you put it in terms of their pets or familiy it might make a difference.

Thank you for bringing attention to what is going on in this horrendous industry. We all need to join Chris and let all our friends and families know that they need to raise their voices loud and clear to end it and hope the SA government will hear.

It is suprising the pure venom from tourists who have walked with Lions when you ask the following two questions:

1) Why was the cub not with it's mother?

2) What is benefit for the Lion to be so habituated if it is to be released into the wild?

Regretfully so many want to pet a cub or walk with a lion that the truth is easily over looked with the offered false words of Lion conservation.

I heartily agree with you Kipper.

They don't understand the cub is not with its mother because:
a) the wild mother has already been killed by hunters or poisoned by humans or indeed
by another lion OR
b) the breeder removed the cubs from the mother so she would come in estrus and be able
to breed again.

They also don't understand that lion cubs rarely are rehabilitated to the wild. If this is attempted, other prides of lions usually end up killing them. I wish this were not the case but there have been only a very few cases of successful rehabilitation to the wild.

There are those people who wouldn't care anyway and would just continue with the photo ops with cubs or walking with lions. However, if people could be made more aware of the real state of lion conservation, they wouldn't partake in these events without having a guily conscience.