Rhino poaching protest in South Africa
- 13 years ago
Protesters from animal rights groups rally outside the Chinese embassy in Pretoria demanding the government combat Asia's illegal trade in rhino horn.
Campaigner Miranda Jordan.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) ANIMAL RIGHTS CAMPAIGNER, PEOPLE FOR THE LIBERATION OF ANIMALS NGO, MIRANDA JORDAN, SAYING:
"We are certainly hoping to get some sort of a reaction because nobody likes to hear, outside the embassy in a foreign country, that there are people who say that they are no longer welcome because of what they are doing to their natural heritage."
South Africa has lost at least 280 rhinos so far in 2011, including 16 or more critically endangered black rhinos.
This student attended the demonstration.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) STUDENT, NIDAA HUSAIN, SAYING:
"I don't want to be part of a generation who says to their child: 'Yes, I did once see the rhino', and to them it's like a dodo is to us."
Passing cars hoot their horns to show their support for the protest.
In response to a growing black market demand for rhino horn - mainly in Asia - more rhinos were killed in South Africa last year than the combined total over the previous decade.
The coordinator of the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC says there needs to be collaborative law enforcement between South Africa and consumer countries.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) COORDINATOR, GLOBAL ELEPHANT AND RHINO TRAFFICKING, TOM MILLIKEN, SAYING:
"In the last few years in Asia rhino horn for the first time has been marketed as a cure for cancer. In the traditional literature that goes back thousands of years that forms the basis for rhino horn usage never was it ever used for these purposes."
In April the South African government deployed the army to the hard-hit Kruger National Park.
This has brought down poaching fatalities, but has pushed the hunters onto private game reserves.
Nick Rowlands, Reuters.
Campaigner Miranda Jordan.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) ANIMAL RIGHTS CAMPAIGNER, PEOPLE FOR THE LIBERATION OF ANIMALS NGO, MIRANDA JORDAN, SAYING:
"We are certainly hoping to get some sort of a reaction because nobody likes to hear, outside the embassy in a foreign country, that there are people who say that they are no longer welcome because of what they are doing to their natural heritage."
South Africa has lost at least 280 rhinos so far in 2011, including 16 or more critically endangered black rhinos.
This student attended the demonstration.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) STUDENT, NIDAA HUSAIN, SAYING:
"I don't want to be part of a generation who says to their child: 'Yes, I did once see the rhino', and to them it's like a dodo is to us."
Passing cars hoot their horns to show their support for the protest.
In response to a growing black market demand for rhino horn - mainly in Asia - more rhinos were killed in South Africa last year than the combined total over the previous decade.
The coordinator of the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC says there needs to be collaborative law enforcement between South Africa and consumer countries.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) COORDINATOR, GLOBAL ELEPHANT AND RHINO TRAFFICKING, TOM MILLIKEN, SAYING:
"In the last few years in Asia rhino horn for the first time has been marketed as a cure for cancer. In the traditional literature that goes back thousands of years that forms the basis for rhino horn usage never was it ever used for these purposes."
In April the South African government deployed the army to the hard-hit Kruger National Park.
This has brought down poaching fatalities, but has pushed the hunters onto private game reserves.
Nick Rowlands, Reuters.