Final Appeal Update - June 2010
Last year, in partnership with International Rhino Foundation, an appeal was launched to raise emergency funds and to increase awareness of the work of the Lowveld Rhino Trust (LRT) in Zimbabwe. Through this appeal, Save the Rhino raised £14,974 in donations as well as an additional £10,858 from Trusts & Foundations and International Rhino Foundation raised over $90,000. The funds raised went towards translocating rhinos from high-risk areas to smaller, better-protected locations; treating rhinos with snare and shot wounds and returning them to the wild including orphaned rhino calves; helping authorities track, apprehend and prosecute poachers; and intensively tracking and monitoring rhinos to ensure their safety and in order to intensively manage the population.
The good news is that it looks like the level of poaching has started to decrease. There have been no incidences of rhino poaching in the Lowveld region the last few months! And the number of poacher arrests in the last six months has increased which will hopefully act as a useful deterrent.
Two major translocation operations, moving a total of 53 black rhinos, were undertaken in 2009 to rescue black rhinos from areas of high poaching activity. Prior to these translocations an average of seven rhinos a month were being poached in the Lowveld (44 rhinos in the first six months of 2009). Since the translocations, the loss rate in the second half of 2009 was reduced to an average of only 2.5 rhinos a month (15 rhinos in six months). The rate in 2010 has dropped further to under one rhino per month.
Four orphaned rhino calves are still being hand-reared until they are old enough to be returned to the wild. Two older calves were successfully released in late 2009 and are being closely monitored.
On 11 January, a rhino poacher who had been arrested in Save Valley in September 2009, was sentenced to an effective jail term of 14 years, which represents one of the few significant sentences imposed on rhino poachers and shows the effectiveness of LRT’s intervention in helping to ensure a strong prosecution effort. Three poachers were intercepted on 23 January with a rifle while en route to poach rhinos in Save Valley. Following the heightened awareness of the above court case, these suspects were each sentenced to five-year jail terms on weapons charges. There have been numerous other poacher arrests but these were either released or are still awaiting sentencing. One poaching ringleader was killed when his gang engaged in a gunfight with an anti-poaching unit in late May 2010.
Even though it looks like the tide may be turning, LRT cannot let its guard down. While continuing rhino monitoring and protection, LRT will begin to expand its work including implementing a broad-based community outreach and awareness programme. Thank you once again to everyone who supported the appeal and made a donation.
This year we are planning to launch an appeal to raise awareness and much needed funds for the most threatened large mammal on earth, the Javan rhino - so watch this space!
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