How a rhino project helps communities and protects ecosystems (The Horn, autumn 2007)

"The game scouts have caught some poachers, Dad," my son Jack announced a few days ago.
"How do you know that? I haven't heard a report," I answered, somewhat surprised.
"I know they have because I saw the game scout Landrover going past and it had two guys dressed in rags in the back."
 
I got on to the radio and was told, "Yes, we have just arrested two poachers who killed a giraffe in the rhino zone."
 
The above scenario is all-too familiar. The game scouts are making more and more arrests of poachers in and around our Intensive Protective Zone for the Chyulu black rhino. This tells us that the scouts are not only becoming more efficient, but more importantly there is a huge spin-off from the increased security that benefits other species and the habitat. Up until last year one could fly over the rhino zone and without fail see tell-tale wisps of smoke emerging from the forest canopy, that would give away an illegal charcoal burning kiln. Today this sight is rare, which indicates that poachers can no longer move around with impunity and this is a direct result of our efforts to protect the remnant Chyulu black rhino population.
 
My son's observation that you can tell a poacher as he is ‘dressed in rags’ is all too true. Without exception, the poachers we are catching – 52 this year alone – are all from very poor backgrounds and have very little choice of ways to earn a living. I believe that we cannot win this war through intensive security alone. We have to find ways to educate and create employment in order to bring the local communities on side.
 
This philosophy is not new in the Chyulus. We currently have 43 students on wildlife scholarships, have built schools employing qualified teachers to upgrade education standards, and we endeavour to find employment for ex-poachers – sometimes even as game scouts, working on the assumption that the best poachers make the best game keepers! We have a long way to go and need to do a lot more work on the Chyulu National Park boundary to gain the support of the Wakamba community, which is currently seeing very little benefits from wildlife.
 
We have made some major breakthroughs this year. Finally the rhino are beginning to use (albeit with suspicion!) the artificial water points part-funded by Save the Rhino. The combination of this and Chester Zoo’s making it possible for Richard Kech to be employed full time as an advisor to the rhino project, has enabled us to get our first three ID standard photographs of different rhino. Kech has brought with him a wealth of experience and is being kept very busy training our community scouts in the complexities of rhino monitoring and security.

We also have four new additions to our game scout team: two donkeys and two bloodhounds. The bloodhound tracker dogs (generously donated by Ol Jogi Ltd) have, in their few months of active service, been responsible for the apprehension of two poachers and have tracked down thieves who stole solar panels from one of the local primary schools. The donkeys have been a great success too, enabling the mobile foot patrols to extend their areas of operation considerably by resupplying water to their camps.
 
As I write, morale has never been higher in our rhino unit, largely due to the unwavering support of Save the Rhino, who always seem to pull something out of the hat when we send out wish lists – so a big thank you to all at Save the Rhino.

Richard Bonham
Chyulu Hills rhino project

Grants
We have just sent over £6,469 from Chester Zoo, which will pay for scout salaries and incentives, for informer payments and prosecution costs, for the purchase of new radios, radio maintenance, a digital camera and solar power, as well as fuel costs for one of the patrol vehicles. Thanks so much for your continued support.

Thanks also to Kenneth Donaldson, for his donation of £5,850 towards Kech’s salary and the purchase of two new 12-bore semi-automatic guns for the scouts.