Rhinos could become extinct in less than a decade

Is this a picture that you would share with your friends on Facebook?

Above: A mother rhino and her baby must suffer because of people’s need to get some cash in their pockets.

Probably not…

If we sit back and ignore this, these beautiful creatures will dissapear forever. There is something (two things, actually) that you can do to make the world aware of rhino poaching in South Africa. But first, the facts:

Rhino poaching has become one of South Africa’s gravest concerns. Rhino poaching in South Africa has escalated dramatically since 2008. In 2009, 135 rhinos were slaughtered. This figure increased to a staggering 333 rhinos butchered in 2010 and the state hasn’t improved in 2011.80 rhinos have been killed as of 30 August 2011, reports the World Wildlife Funs (WWF).

“Rhino poaching in South Africa has doubled annually for the past three years, and shows no sign of slowing down in 2011,” said Matthew Lewis, Senior Program Officer for African species conservation at World Wildlife Fund (WWF). “The time for action to stop this poaching onslaught is now, we cannot afford to wait.” Rhinos constitute one of the much-revered “Big 5” of African wildlife tourism, in addition to elephants, lions, leopards and Cape buffalo. Rhino poaching across Africa has risen sharply in the past few years, threatening to reverse hard-won population increases achieved by governments and conservation groups during the 20^th century.

There are still two gaping loop holes in the South African legal system, which need to be addressed immediately:

1) Hunters and private rhino owners are still being issued with permits to legally kill these animals and many of the horns of these permitted hunts are leaving the country illegally.
2) The sentence for convicted rhino poachers are not severe enough to act as a deterrent for these poachers.

Many of us have been following the story of Absa the Rhino… his horn was hacked off with a machete and he was left to bleed to death. For 5 days he bravely fought for his life… but  he lost that battle. In his struggle he united this country in prayer. People from accross the world looked on in despair as he continued to struggle from day to day. Let us gather together in honour of his brave fight… let the people of this country unite to protect our heritage… let us unite to create education and awareness around this issue.

So, what can you do about rhino poaching?

The team at the Discover Africa Goup,  will not sit back and watch the slaughter continue… On Thurday the 22nd of September we, along with other like-minded people such as  Rhino Africa, Getaway Magazine, Wildlife ACT, Aquila Private Game Reserve, Green Renaissance and Africa@Heart will march up Roelandstreet to Parliament and take a stand against rhino poaching for once and for all. We will be of the many people wearing red.

Why not join us in your lunch break? We will leave from Fruit and Veg City at about 12h00 and then take a slow walk to Parliament to be there for 12h30.

You can also sign a petition to bring the urgency of the sitation to the attention of internation government.

Together we can make a difference to stop rhino poaching in South Africa.

Above: Together we can make a differerence to stop rhino poaching.

Another way to generate consciousness about the problem is to visit the areas these animals are being poached. If Governments see that people are coming only for the rhinos, they will realise they won’t have this revenue once all the rhinos are gone. 4×4 hire South Africa is a good place to look for a vehicle to visit these locations.