“Poaching makes me good money,” said the anonymous poacher. It is this desperation that leads many people to poach. There are no other benefits to the community.”Īnother Mpumalanga resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said on tape: “Rhinos are government property and we need to eat. There is a dam and we go there with drums of water to fetch and then we push the water back in wheelbarrows. Sboniso Mhlongo, a suspected poacher, told Nare: “We only get free water from Skukuza. They also work for and everyone makes money off the animals.”Īnd while the government-run Kruger park saw 1.8 million visitors last year - with average guest costs ranging from $225 to over $5,000 a night, for a considerable cash flow - outside the park, where many communities don’t have electricity or running water, it’s another story. The local tribes now protect and police their land, making it almost impossible for poachers to penetrate. What happened in Phinda was a group of wealthy individuals bought the land and returned it to the local tribes in exchange for a contract to manage the property. In contrast, the Phinda game reserve south of Swaziland is run by the luxury company &Beyond and had such a surplus of rhino that it relocated some to Botswana in 2016.īornman explained: “In South Africa, whoever owns the land owns the animals on the land. While Kruger is the epicenter of poaching in South Africa, many say it doesn’t have to be this way. The average salary for a general worker - if they can find a job - in Mpumalanga is just $8,628 a year. There is no work, no money and no food.”Īccording to Martin Bornman, a director of the African Conservation Experience, there is close to a 70 percent unemployment rate in the communities that surround Kruger, a population of almost 2 million people. I used to poach elephants, but now we are targeting rhinos … A lot of my family members get paid to poach because of circumstances. One local poacher who uses the Skukuza area of Kruger to hunt, said on camera: “I have been a poacher for a long time now. Mpumalanga, in eastern South Africa near the border of Mozambique, is a hotbed for poaching recruitment. Then you can think about other things.” Paula Froelich “But then you engage with the people, you live with the people … There are villages just around the Kruger National Park, live on social grants because there is no more land to farm … You just need to fill up your stomach. “At first I thought were just cruel criminals,” Nare told me. Three officers were arrested and put on trial for murder, later to be acquitted.) (Nare, who had received death threats for several years due to his work exposing the inhumane prison system in Zimbabwe as well as his investigations into corruption in South Africa, was shot and killed outside his home by Johannesburg Metropolitan Police in 2017. Shortly after he returned, I talked with Nare about his time with the poachers. In 2016, award-winning journalist Godknows Nare spent six months in the epicenter of rhino poaching, around the perimeter of Kruger National Park, interviewing poachers and their families. Why do the poachers do it? In all the coverage of the rhino disaster - about the demand from China, the gangs who control the racket and the horrific on-the-ground images - the people who commit the actual murder of the animal have largely remained silent, until now. Since lockdown, six rhino in Botswana have been slaughtered for their horn. Due to COVID-19, the problem has worsened as gangs in Mozambique take advantage of the lack of tourists and guards in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, killing nine rhino already. Much has been written about the decimation of rhino populations in Africa due to poaching. Wildlife trafficker known as the 'Godfather' sentenced to 18 months over $2.1M in poached rhinoceros hornsĪlleged killer of beloved bald eagle turns self in - as 'devastated' residents demand answers Suspected poacher accused of killing bear, two cubs in Coloradoīeloved, horny Staten Island 'monster' turtle poached, feared sold for soup: 'It's horrifying'
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