I have just received the following request.

Mvura is a captive bred Black Rhino, released into the wild at Matusadona where she has mated & has a young male calf.
Mvura still has her trust of humans although her calf takes to the deepest thicket when his mum visits camp.
I will be posting a report & pictures in the near future.

Having seen Mvura and her calf close up, and knowing your passion for
wildlife, I am taking the liberty of forwarding the appeal below to you.

Mvura was born and bred at Imire, and this is a severe setback to the rhino
breeding programme.

Anything you are able to do to assist them - particularly forwarding their
request, would be much appreciated.

Please would you liaise with them directly - their email address is in the
appeal.

Imire Safari Ranch

"What is man without the beast?
If all the Beasts were gone man would die
From Great loneliness of spirit.
For whatever happens to the beasts soon happens to man...
All are connected". - Chief Seattle

REWARD FUNDING

Reward funding required towards the arrest and conviction of the persons
responsible for the brutal killing of our 3 Black Rhino at Imire Game Park
on the night of 7th November 2007

DJ mother of 7week old Tatenda (now Orphaned) Sprinter (father of Tatenda)
and Amber (pregnant mother and ready to give birth).
They were shot while in there bomas

In 20seconds our Black Rhino breeding stock were annihilated
Obviously the bigger the reward the better the prospects of these culprits
being brought to JUSTICE all funds will be carefully monitored and invested
until such time the reward is paid or refunded to those who have contributed

All funds made payable to Imire Game Park
Zimbank Marondera Branch A/C # 4573 399451001
Contact: Mike or Sheila Thompson,
John, Judy or Reilly Travers
Or Pete and Mandy Bibby
Imire Game Park
P Bag 3750
Marondera
Phone: 022-2054
022-222857
E-mail: imiregp@zol.co.zw
Please forward to every one every where
- Edited by kipper on 29.11.2007, 17:31 -

This is truly infuriating. Those animals were in their own boma, hurting no-one or their property. What reason would anyone have to kill them?

It makes me wonder about an inside job. I have heard the story of wildlife authorities handing over some rhinos to the Maasai to guard and care for. They took care of the animals for quite some time and got to knew them. Then when the Maasai didn't get something they wanted from the government agencies, they killed all the rhino.

Thus I am thinking about a disgruntled ex-employee perhaps. Also it makes me wonder how many people in the area are lucky enough to have guns strong enough to kill a rhino. The article didn't mention if the horns were taken, so one can't assume it was poachers.

Please keep us up to date with what is happening here Kipper. So very sad what we humans are doing to wildlife. One can only hope that when the killers meet their maker, punishment will be severe.

Here's the story of the killing, it would appear it was Rhino horn motivated.
The three animals had had their horns sawn off by wildlife veterinarians

Harare - Poachers have shot dead three black rhinoceroses - a species listed as the most highly endangered large mammal on Earth - on a private conservancy, its owner said on Thursday. John Travers said poachers armed with AK47 automatic rifles on Wednesday night evaded the armed guards surrounding the rhino at the Imire game park about 100km east of Harare and shot dead two females and a male, but left a four-week-old calf unharmed. Zimbabwe in the 1980s had the largest population in Africa of black rhino, about 7 500, but a wave of poaching all over Africa - driven by demand for the horn in the Far East as a cure for fevers and a sexual stimulant and in Yemen where it was used for dagger handles - decimated the population, including Zimbabwe's. The horn is composed of tightly compacted hair fibres, and has no other pharmacological properties, according to biologists.

About 1 500 of the surviving population were captured in the Zambezi Valley on Zimbabwe's northern border and taken to apparent safety in national game parks and conservancies in the interior of the country. About 500 are still left, according to wildlife experts, but they have come under increasing pressure this year. The animals on Imire were under constant watch by armed guards, "but this was a slick operation," Travers said. One of the cows was two weeks away from giving birth to a calf. Poaching is pretty rampant now. Incidents like this are going to have a serious effect." He said the three animals had had their horns sawn off by wildlife veterinarians about two months ago, a tactic used with some success to deter poachers. The decision to dehorn them was taken when poachers attacked another conservancy outside Harare and shot dead three white rhino. "My assumption is that these guys were after the horns but it was dark and they couldn't see that they didn't have horns," he said.

The three were among the hundreds of black rhino rescued from the Zambezi Valley during "Operation Stronghold," a semi-military operation to fight off the poachers, and came to Imire in 1985, where they became the stock for a scientific breeding programme to build up their numbers again. Travers said there were three others - the progeny of the slaughtered rhino - still on the conservancy. Police had supplied six armed officers to live with the rhino for the next two weeks and strengthen the defences against a possible return by the poachers' gang, he said. "It's getting out of hand," said Johnny Rodriguez, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, a private wildlife organisation. In a large conservancy in the Mavuradonha area about 200km north of Harare, the rhino population had fallen from 54 to eight in the last year, while conservancies in the central Midlands province had lost 31 in the same period and were down to 21 now.

sad sad sooo sad!
one more proof: humans are the worst beasts on earth!
one feels so helpless!

Zimbabwe: Suspected Soldiers Slaughter Endangered Black Rhinos

SW Radio Africa (London)
13 November 2007
Tererai Karimakwenda

In a tragic incident that occurred last Wednesday night, a gang of poachers armed with AK 47 rifles and dressed in camouflage, shot and killed 3 black rhinos, one of the world's most endangered species. The slaughtered group included a pregnant female, two weeks away from giving birth. A four-week-old calf was spared.

The black rhinos were part of an important project that hopes to provide a gene pool for this highly threatened species. It is believed the slaughter was meant to intimidate the farm owners into vacating their property, to make way for a top military official who wants the farm.

Black rhinos are normally killed for their horns, but this group had been dehorned to discourage poaching. Johnny Rodrigues, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, linked the shootings to the ongoing illegal eviction of commercial white farmers. Speaking in his personal capacity he said: "As far as I am concerned it is some greedy officer in the army or air force that actually wants that property and that's one way of trying to get the people off."

As we have reported most of the recent evictions of white farmers have been carried out by armed soldiers and youth on behalf of military officials who want the farms. Rodrigues said the rhino incident fits this pattern.

The shootings took place at Imire Game Farm in Wedza, outside the town of Marondera. This conservancy belongs to John and Judy Travers, whose family has headed special breeding programmes to increase the population of other animals, including lions, hyenas, elephants and impala.

The animals are protected by security guards around the clock. Rodrigues said the gang approached the homestead and forced the staff to reveal where the security guards were located. They then disarmed the guards and assaulted them before going to the secured area where they shot the rhinos in their pens.

The government's chaotic land reform programme has not only destroyed agriculture and created food shortages, but much damage has been done to the environment as well, with military and government officials now aiming for the few remaining Conservancies. The rare species protected in these areas are being brought even closer to extinction.

Only 4 orphaned rhinos remain at Imire now, including the young calf. The owners are offering a reward to anyone who can lead them to the gang that carried out this shameful massacre, but they need to raise the funds for the reward first and have published an appeal.

Jumbos mourn black rhino killed by poachers (Zimbabwe)

Myrtle Ryan and Peta Thornycroft, Independent Online
November 18 2007

This week three Zimbabwean elephants proved that rhinos and elephants can form close bonds, and that elephants do mourn.

Gruesome pictures flashed around the world this week of the three black rhinos shot by members of the Zimbabwe Army, dressed in camouflage uniforms and carrying AK-47 rifles. Each rhino had had a guard, but they were assaulted during the attack at Imire Safari Ranch in Wedza last week.

When elephants Mundebvu, Makavusi and Toto were taken to where their former rhino companions Amber, DJ and Sprinter were buried, they reacted in almost human fashion, touching and supporting each other and showing obvious grief. While elephants have been known to behave in such a fashion around remains of their own kind, people might be surprised to find them behaving in the same way around rhinos, which are sometimes treated with animosity.

According to Johnny Rodrigues, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, since the attack, money has been pouring into a special fund set up by the Travers family - the owners of Imire.

Rodrigues said: "Four armed poachers dressed in camouflage uniform assaulted and tied up the rhino guards and opened fire on the three adult rhino in their pens."

All three were killed.

Imire is one of the few privately owned conservancies left in Zimbabwe and its rhino breeding programme has attracted international donor support.

Rodrigues expressed "utter shock, horror and disbelief" at the killings. He said over the past 20 years the Travers family "have lovingly reared and bred these animals", successfully releasing 13 black rhino back into Matusadona National Park.

"The three rhino were dehorned six weeks ago to make them less attractive to poachers. Nevertheless, the poachers tried to hack out the few centimetres of new horn growth from one of the rhinos before being frightened off."

John and Judy Travers appealed for funding for a reward to anyone giving information leading to the capture and conviction of those who had slaughtered the rhinos.

DJ, Sprinter and Amber were used in a breeding programme to successfully reintroduce endangered black rhino to the Zambezi valley. All were brutally killed, leaving a seven-week-old calf, Tatenda. Amber was due to give birth to her calf this week.

Speaking about the relationship between the animals, Nicola Roche, a family member, said the elephants and rhinos often walked around together. At night the rhinos were kept in the boma while the elephants slept outside. "They [the elephants] must have been very aware of the shots and screams [of the rhinos]," said Roche.

She said Judy had told her how the elephants had reacted when taken to the rhinos' burial spot two days after the incident.

"Something like this affects everyone and everything," said Roche. "The elephants were passing sticks to each other and Judy said you could see their tears running down their faces."

She said Amber and her foetus were buried under a beautiful msassa tree - where she was born.

On reaching this spot Mundebvu (who is herself in calf) dug down for about one metre to try to reach her former companion, constantly letting out screams and shrieks as the other two elephants supported her.

Article at the following link:
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=143&art_id=vn20071118084613595C384523