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| Location: |
Africa |
| Subject: |
Conservation |
| Species: |
African Rhino Species |
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Assuming it's not too late, and it may be, the rhino workshop's agenda of action for 1989 is to:
(1) enlist the assistance of international agencies like Interpol to research and expose the network of illegal trade;
(2) help create internationally enforceable legislation where violations result in arrests, fines, prison terms and bad publicity;
(3) promote the use of substitutes for rhino horn, such as water buffalo horn for carving and saiga antelope horn (estimated population: one million) for its supposed medicinal properties;
(4) educate suppliers and users about the devastating effects of ?business' on rhino populations.
But what about Africa's long-term problems, which throw into question the very existence of all large mammals? Africa's human population is expected to double every 18 to 20 years! What about 10-year drought cycles and deforestation? is there enough land, fuel and water for these rural economies to share with Africa's elephants, rhinos and buffaloes? ?Remember, Africa's parks were established in an era of vast, uninhabited areas with no demographic pressure to share the parks' natural resources,' explained Salomon Joubert, chief warden of Kruger Park. And what about civil wars and wars of liberation that drag on for a generation or more ... ?
If the ideal of maintaining breeding populations of rhino in the full range of their natural habitats becomes outdated as more African nations teeter on the brink of collapse, can the 183 black rhino in 71 zoo populations around the world guarantee that black rhino will not become extinct? Yes - and no. Virtually all zoo black rhino originated in Kenya (D.b. michaeli) which does nothing to preserve the other subspecies or ecotypes of African rhino; the International Union of Zoo Directors and the World Wildlife Fund do not recognise such considerations in their programmes for rhino.
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Rhino's last stand in Africa
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