South African troops fight back as poachers kill hundreds of rhino

KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, SOUTH AFRICA—They used to rely on snares, poison and shotguns to kill rhinos for their horns. Now international crime syndicates are arming poachers with night-vision goggles and AK-47 assault rifles as the price for rhino horn surpasses gold.

When the crackle of gunfire signals the death of yet another rhino, radios squawk to life here in South Africa’s flagship Kruger National Park and soldiers ready for pre-dawn patrols.

“They’ve become very aggressive,” Ken Maggs, head of the South African government environmental crime investigation unit, said of the poachers.

“They leave notes for us written in the sand, warnings. That indicates it is an escalating issue . . . They are coming in prepared to fight.”

The government of South Africa, home to 90 per cent of the rhinos left on the continent, is fighting back. Since more than 140 troops were deployed in April, the number of rhinos killed in Kruger has dropped from 40 in March and 30 in April to 15 in May and just two in June. Fifteen alleged poachers also have been killed this year, and nine suspects wounded in gunfights.

Still, rhino carcasses with mutilated faces are becoming a common sight in African wildlife parks. The hacked-off horns are destined to be smuggled to China and Vietnam, where traditional medicine practitioners grind them up for sale as alleged cures for everything from fevers to arthritis and cancer.

The horns have become so valuable that thieves this year started stealing rhino exhibits in European museums. The going rate is up to $93,000 Cdn a kilogram, according to the London Metropolitan Police department.

Conservationists have failed to persuade traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and consumers that rhino horn has no medicinal value. Some link the upsurge in rhino poaching to a 2007 Chinese government decision to promote traditional medicine as alternative medicine grows increasingly popular in the West as well. Until then, South Africa was losing about 10 rhinos a year to poachers.

Members of the South African National Defence Force walk through grasslands during a media visit to clandestine positions at the Kruger National Park, July 20, 2011. South Africa's military has deployed troops in the park near its border with Mozambique to cut down on rhino poaching, which kills several hundred of the animals a year, with their horns being sold on the black market for hundreds of thousands of dollars.


Trophy hunting in South Africa is compounding the problem. More than 100 white rhinos were killed under permit here last year. The Department of Environment did not respond to questions about permits issued this year.

So tempting are the rewards that veterinarians and game ranchers — the very people supposedly dedicated to conserving wildlife — have been arrested in recent months for alleged involvement in the rhino horn trade.



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Africa Wallpapers 5

It's Wallpaperday again!!!
All Wallpapers are in 1600x1200 resolution

Running Black Feathered Ostrich

Giraffes at Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya

Hornbill at Krüger Park, South Africa

Sprinboks at Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Thirsty Giraffes at Etosha National Park, Namibia

Wildebeests and Sunrise at Masai Mara, Kenya

which one do you like most?

for more Wallpapers check:

Africa Wallpapers 4
Africa Wallpapers 3
Africa Wallpapers 2
Africa Wallpapers 1

50 Posts - Oryx

Hey my Friends!!!

This is my 50th Post on BigOryx, I think I should tell you a little bit about the Oryx now:

Oryx is one of four large antelope species of the genus Oryx. Three of the species are native to arid parts of Africa, with a fourth native to the Arabian Peninsula. Their pelage is pale with contrasing dark markings in the face and on the legs, and their long horns are almost straight. The exception is the Scimitar Oryx, which lacks dark markings on the legs, only has faint dark markings on the head, has an ochre neck, and horns that are clearly decurved.

The Arabian Oryx was only saved from extinction through a captive breeding program and reintroduction to the wild. The Scimitar Oryx, which is now listed as Extinct in the Wild, also relies on a captive breeding program for its survival, Small populations of several oryx species, such as the Scimitar Oryx, exist in Texas and New Mexico (USA) in wild game ranches. Gemsboks were released at the White Sands Missile Range and have become an invasive species of concern at the adjacent White Sands National Monument.

Namib Desert, Africa

David Attenborough narrates the spectacular scenery of southern Africa's Namib Desert in Namibia. Truly amazing wild beauty - sand dunes created by the winds from the Atlantic ocean.

Lion cub vs buffalo herd - BBC wildlife

Baby lion cub is in danger after a stampede of buffalo move through the African jungle. Has Sala survived the force of the buffalo herd? From the BBC.

Cheetah vs. Oryx

Two cheetahs cubs think they found an easy meal when they catch a oryx calf, until they are confronted by the calf's determined mother. Watch the amazing National Geographic video.

More Google Earth places

Since you guys loved my Google Earth place of the Oryx group, I've got more cool places from Namibia for you:

A big Colony of seals at the coast of Namibia

Fly to it!!!

Etosha Salt Pan, a huge dry salt flat in Northern Namibia, heart of the famous Etosha National Park, which is teeming with wildlife.
Fly to it!!

Himba Village in Opuwo

Fly to it!!

A ship wreck in the desert at the skeloton coast in Namibia

Fly to it!!


I hope you enjoy this stuff ;-)

Herd of oryx in Google Earth

In Google Earth you can find a herd of Oryx in the middle of nowhere in south africa running in the desert.

Fly to the Orix in Google Earth

you can see them clearly with a lot of details