With rhino poaching on an upward swing, Dr. Joseph Okori talks to South Africa Magazine about the fight against this illegal trade and what is behind the worrying increase.

By Ian Armitage


Rhino poaching in South Africa has reached an all-time high. Deaths averaged nearly one rhino per day and a total of 333 rhinos were illegally killed in 2010, including 10 critically endangered black rhinos.

According to Dr. Joseph Okori, WWF African Rhino Programme Manager, the yearly total is the highest ever experienced in South Africa and nearly triple 2009 when 122 rhinos were killed in the country.

An additional 23 white and two black rhinos have been lost to poaching since the New Year.

“The current wave of poaching is being committed by sophisticated criminal networks using helicopters, night-vision equipment, veterinary tranquilisers and silencers to kill rhinos at night while attempting to avoid law enforcement patrols,” Dr. Okori explains. “They are also using media, like the internet, to build stronger demand and improve communication.

“The criminal syndicates operating in South Africa are highly organised and use advanced technologies. They are very well coordinated and what is alarming is that we are still seeing the involvement of local professionals, vets in particular, as well as game ranchers and rangers, in this trade.

“What is behind the rise? The incentive, we believe, is money. With the global recession tourism is affected, game owners and rangers are struggling and there is greater enticement for some of them to get involved in the illegal trade.

“The increased poaching trend is extremely worrying. If it is not stopped, the rhino conservation wins of the last decade will be in jeopardy.”

Rhino poaching across Africa has risen sharply in the past few years, threatening to reverse hard-won population increases achieved by conservation authorities during the 20th century.

One problem is that conviction rates remain relatively low.

“An increase in convictions, backed up by tougher penalties is certainly needed,” Dr. Okori says. “The South African government needs to demonstrate its continuing commitment to protecting rhino but it isn’t just on their shoulders. There is need for similar action in consumer states too.

“We are also pursuing other diplomatic channels with partners like TRAFFIC in our fight against the illegal poaching and trade and the abuses of the current system. Through them we have established coordination links between officials in South Africa and Asia, which has the highest demand for rhino horn. It is vital that we raise public awareness of the illegal trade in rhino horn. WWF believes our international presence in more than 100 countries, including those where much of the horn is shipped to, will help.

“We have partnerships with governments, NGOs and people who are conservation-aware,” he continues. “With those who are not yet aware, we work to create that awareness. We aim to invest donor funds securely and wisely in projects, which will make rhino populations across Africa more productive and viable.

“We are tackling the entire supply chain and specifically targeting those at the top of the syndicates. Only a concerted international enforcement pincer movement, at both ends of the supply and demand chain, can reverse the trend.”

At the root of the rhino crisis is the continued use of rhino horn in traditional Chinese medicine.

Illegal rhino horn is highly sought after for use in traditional medicines in China and Vietnam, despite the fact that rhino horn has been extensively analysed and contains no proven medicinal properties.

“Research conducted by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC revealed that most rhino horns leaving Southern Africa are being smuggled to Vietnam and probably China” says Dr. Okori.

In Vietnam, rhino horn demand is on the increase. It is already huge in China.

“Rhino horn has long been prized as an ingredient in traditional Asian medicine. It has also been claimed recently that rhino horn possesses cancer-curing properties, despite there being no medical evidence to support that.”

South Africa, he says, is home to approximately 21,000 rhinos, more than any other country in the world, and despite the worrying rise in poaching, there have been fantastic steps forward in the conservation of this wonderful beast.

“We have seen African white rhino populations rise from less than 100 in the late 19th century to more than 20,000 today and that is a phenomenal conservation success story that can be attributed to the combined efforts of all those involved," says Dr. Okori. "However, consumers of rhino horn across Asia are now seriously compromising this achievement by motivating groups to kill rhinos.

“In order to halt this - and I must stress how important this is - substantial resources need to go into law enforcement and awareness, both in Africa and in Asian consumer countries where all trade in rhino horn is illegal."

In South Africa, WWF’s Black Rhino Range Expansion Project aims to increase the overall numbers of black rhino by making available additional breeding lands. This is done by forming partnerships with owners of large areas of natural black rhino habitat. So far, 98 black rhino have been “translocated” to new range lands and at least 26 calves have been born on project sites.

“It’s one thing to know about rhinos, another to have them and look after them and successfully breed them,” says Dr. Okori. “WWF has adopted a more strategic and proactive approach to rhino conservation and continues to make progress. Black rhino are a solitary animal and we have about 1,678 in South Africa. Our breeding and expansion programme is recognised as one of the best around.”

Indeed, 12 percent of all the black rhino in KZN have come as a result of the WWF expansion programmes. “We have not only increased numbers of rhino, but also increased the area of land available to them,” Dr. Okori explains.

Rhinos constitute one of the much-revered “Big 5” of African wildlife tourism, including elephants, lions, leopards and Cape buffalo. For more than 45 years, WWF has been involved in rhino conservation and management in Africa. Its African Rhino Programme has continued to provide a coordinated approach for rhino conservation since its introduction in 1997 and with people like Dr. Okori (who has had his arm broken by a buffalo and been chased by leopards) determined to make a difference, the poachers had better watch out!

For more details visit wwf.panda.org.

South Africa Magazine Issue 11.