 Reference Base  Rhino poaching in Namibia from 1980 to 1990 and the illeg... |
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Martin, E.B., 1993. Rhino poaching in Namibia from 1980 to 1990 and the illegal trade in the horn. Pachyderm 17: 39-51, figs. 1-5, tables 1-5
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| Location: |
Africa - Southern Africa - Namibia |
| Subject: |
Management |
| Species: |
Black Rhino |
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On account of this alarming upsurge in poaching in the Kaokoveld in 1989, Blythe Loutit and her husband Rudi Loutit decided a new strategy was needed. They proposed that some of the rhinos in Damaraland should have their horns removed so that the poachers would have no reason to kill them. They convinced the Nature Conservation officials of this controversial plan and then in mid-1989 chose a group of rhinos which were close to the road (and thus more vulnerable to poachers), and which were actually known by a gang ?. Loutit, pers. comm.). Twelve of these rhinos were dehorned in an efficient operation in which not a single animal died. The exact number of rhinos dehorned was at first kept secret from the press in order to give the impression to potential poachers that most rhinos in the area had been dehorned; this was a wise decision.
Immediately after the dehorning, the Namibian authorities were severely criticized, especially by South Africans. They complained that the rhinos need their horns for a variety of purposes including self-defence and feeding, and by removing them, social behaviour such as mating might be adversely affected. Since most rhinos did have horns, how would one without them defend itself. Others argued that as the horn grows back, the process would have to be repeated continuously throughout the of the animals. It is expensive to dehorn, and some said the money could have been better spent employing more guards to protect the rhinos and improving the intelligence system.
Those who supported the exercise noted that unlike most other parts of Africa, there were extremely few natural predators in the region which could threaten calves, such as hyenas or lions, so that mothers not really need their horns to protect their young. Furthermore in the vast open spaces of Damaraland which is unlike the thick brush usually inhabited by black rhinos elsewhere in Africa, poachers could easily see whether a rhino had its horns. They dismissed the possibility that poachers would kill them from spite, although this did later happen in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe in early 1992, as the vindictive poachers were so furious, having tracked two white rhinos, to find them with their horns removed.
So far, the 1989 dehorning exercise in Damaraland has been successful. Indeed, according to information from Tommy Hall, two attempts were made in 1989 and 1990 to kill two rhinos, but once they saw the rhinos had no horns, the poachers left them alone. In 1991, the dehorning was repeated: at least eight rhinos had their horns sawn off by government officials in southern Damaraland, near a mine which had just closed down, putting several thousand people out of work. In fact, the officials had learned just before the dehorning that some men were looking for rhinos in the area to shoot. The second dehorning project also passed without a single fatality. The 1989 dehorning project was the first ever to be carried out in the world for a wild population of black rhinos.
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