THE NORTHERN WHITE RHINO

The northern white rhino (ceratotherium simum cottoni) is greatly endangered in comparison to its relative the Southern white rhino which is the most abundant. The Northern white rhino once roamed huge tracts of Africa ranging from The Sahel region to the Congo forests. But that was centuries ago, the remaining wild population of the white rhino was last sighted in Garamba national park in the Democratic republic of Congo in 2005.( An mature male, young male and two females) but as from 2006 no sightings have been confirmed this can be attributed to the political upheaval in eastern D.R.C.
Rebels and fighters like the intarihamwe, lord resistance army, SPLA fighters and the janja wid militia have been the main culprits found in poaching of the northern white rhino. Despite the set back measures are being put in place to protect the few remaining rhinos by reviving of the anti-poaching unit with support from UNESCO, Rhino Foundation, Save the Rhino intyernational ,ZSL and Frakfurt Zoological Society.
Possibilities of the few remaining rhinos to be transported to a rhino sanctuary in Kenya flopped due to political infighting hence leaving the rhinos in a very vulnerable state. The future remains bleak for the Northern white rhino in the D.R.C. 
I dedicate the international rhino day to the northern white rhino in the D.R.C

THE POACHING NETWORK

Poaching is a multi billion dollar dirty industry that involves many players and driven by greed for money among others. Poaching majorly involves involves illegal killing and harvesting of wild flora and fauna. In Africa the illicit trade started a long time with the arrival of the Greek, Romans, Persians, Arabs, British, Belgians,French,Portuguese,Spaniards and off late the Chinese. The Romans poached wild game from Africa for recreational purposes in their many auditoriums in the vast empire,Arabs poached elephants and Rhinos for their horns and tusks. The rhino horns was used as dagger holders while the elephant tusks were used to make beautiful carvings. All this happened under the full knowledge of the African rulers like the Kabaka of the buganda kingdom. The Arab traders were given exclusive rights to poach this wild game in exchange for gifts like mirrors,guns, clothes among others. In other words the genocide had begun, the Arabs exploited the  weakness of the African rulers to get what they want. With the entry of the monetary economy globalization, poaching took a new twist, huge masses of the African population which constituted the youth lacked jobs and with the biting poverty the far East countries took advantage of the arena. The Chinese with their belief that rhino horn acts as an aphrodisiac and the Thai and Japanese population view the possession of a curving from an elephant tusk as a status symbol then the rhino was nearly brought to extinction. Government officials,the community living with the fauna, business people, airlines, ship companies and consumers have become the driving force to an ever increasing demand of the illegal wild game products.
The local people clearly know the location of this wild flora and fauna and the presence of poachers in the area, the poachers will bribe them for a safe passage, the police officers will allow them to drive past the several road blocks and this is with the help of their local master who has an understanding of the system. The mafias in the overseas countries will see to it that the loot reaches them by bribing the airport, airline, port and shipping companies officials. The consumers finally rush to get the loot and the cycle begins again.
So how can this be stopped? Empowering the local community to financially independent, to inform the local community on the importance embracing transparency, the government to invest back the millions of dollars it generates from game related tourism back to the community, this will make the community appreciate the wild flora and fauna. Stiff penalties should be put in place to curb the vice by strengthening the judicial law systems,
adoption of modern technologies like scanners in all ports of entry and exit, poaching should be made an international crime, consumers of this products should be informed on the harm they are putting unto this wild game and the economies that depend on it to survive.
What do you think?

SPORT HUNTING

It beats my understanding as to how a tourist would pay nearly US$ 300,000 to kill a rhino or a rich Arab who come and disposes people in order to be to hunt the wild game. By the way how do you value an animal like a rhino in monetary terms? Though the money involved is lucrative but are the consequences to biodiversity. The rhino population has been declining every year due to various factors like poaching and so by allowing sport hunting i reckon it will be like adding an insult to the injury.
Game hunting should be banned completely though an exemption could be made on the cultural grounds, though this should be closely monitored to avoid exploitation. Our governments should avoid being greedy and be innovative enough in finding new avenue of raising funds and game hunting should not be one of them.