From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: ZAMBIA: IMPORTING RHINOS TO RE-STOC
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 01:11:04 GMT

Area: Africa, southern
Title: ZAMBIA: IMPORTING RHINOS TO RE-STOCK DECIMATED HERDS


lusaka, sept 2 (ips/jowie mwiinga) -- two decades ago, zambia
boasted a rhino population of over 8,000. today, after years of
unrestrained, large scale poaching the number has been reduced
to a paltry one or two dozen.

such destruction of wildlife was possible largely because of
the failure of the fallen united national independence party
(unip) government over its 27-years of rule to effect a
consistent and well funded anti-poaching drive.

rhinos have no natural enemies except poachers who, with
automatic weapons, have slaughtered herds in the quest for the
lucrative rhino horn for sale on the international market.

however, the new movement for multi-party democracy (mmd)
administration, recognising that conservation is also a valuable
means of boosting tourism, is attempting to give this southern
african country's now near extinct rhinos a new lease of life.

tourism minister gen. christon tembo has over his nine
months in office won the respect of international conservation
organisations and rekindled interest in the country's lamentably
underdeveloped game parks.

last week, he announced a government plan to replenish
the countrys rhino population, and methods of protecting the
beasts.

the zambian government has clinched a deal in which it is to
import rhinos from south africa. the rhinos, to be brought in
under the government's department of national parks and
wildlife, will be kept on private game ranches where they should
be more secure from the attention of poachers.

''the rhinos will be government property, but we intend to
put them under the care of private ranches where they will be
safer -- at least initially'', tembo told ips.

some would be released into the wild of the game parks
when they had reproduced to ''comfortable levels'', he added.

an initial batch of 40 rhinos is expected to arrive in the
country by the first rains in late october.

but perhaps most importantly, the rhinos will arrive
de-horned. (more/ips)


zambia: importing (2)

a single horn can fetch as much as 50,000 dollars on the
international market where, particularly in the far east, it is
valued as an aphrodisiac. it is a powerful incentive to poachers
who have decimated africa's rhino population which stood at an
estimated 65,000 in 1970 and is now down to less than 2,000
survivors.

a similar de-horning scheme is underway in neigbouring
zimbabwe where the depredation of poachers has reduced a
national herd of 2,000 last year to around 400. these leviathans
of the bush are now being hunted by helicopter, tranquilised,
and the horns removed by vetinary surgeons.

if zambia's pilot project proves practicable, more rhinos
including some from zoos in the united states would be imported.

the rhinos will most likely be procured in a barter trade
arrangement in exchange for more common zambian species of game,
general tembo said.

the south african government has expressed interest in
importing amongst other wildlife from here harte beest, roan and
sable antelopes.

''we beleive a barter trade arrangement would be better than
cash transactions'', tembo said.

the government hopes to import two kinds of rhinos -- the
black rhino, which is indigenous to zambia, and the exotic white
rhino.

moreover, general tembo said the government had dispatched
scores of armed paramilitary officers to the more vulnerable
game areas to supplement the efforts of game rangers in an
anti-poaching drive.

while the move has sparked off protests from some
conservationist quarters who feel the officers will themselves
resort to poaching, tembo is confident they will be kept
in check.

they have in fact made a good beginning. since they were
deployed to the parks two months ago, the paramilitary has
apprehended 29 suspected poachers -- an unprecedented feat in
modern zambian anti-poaching history.

just how practicable tembo's conservation strategies are,
remains to be seen. however, his consistent and agressive
approach is a healthy departure from the half-hearted,
ill-prepared strategies that marked the conservation attitudes
of the past. (end/ips/jm/oa/92)


-- 
Mr. Aaron Barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us -- posting from Evanston, Illinois
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african