Gonna be a bad year for rhinos, elephants

[CountDeMoney]

No, not the GOP;  they've got their own problems.  Unfortunately for us, Rick Santorum's not being hunted for his fillings.

Hunted for horns worth more than gold, South Africa's rhinos face worst year on record

More than one rhino is being killed in South Africa by poachers each day -- with 2012 on target to be the worst year on record.

Some 159 rhinos have fallen victim to poachers since January, a death toll that looks set to surpass last year's grim figure of 449.  In 2007, only 13 were killed in the country.

Demand comes from parts of China and Vietnam, where new wealth has combined with an age-old myth that rhino horns can be used to cure cancer.

Rhino horns are now worth an estimated $25,000 per pound, making their natural weapon worth more than gold.

Three rhinos were wounded in a single incident last month. Two died, but one -- named Thandi -- survived, though she remains seriously ill.

'Some glimmer of hope'
With little positive news from the frontline of the war with poachers, "Save Thandi" has become a rallying cry amongst those who care about the plight of the rhino in South Africa.

"People are desperate to see something going right, some positive news, some glimmer of hope that we can actually do something that saves one," wildlife veternarian Dr William Fowlds said. "I think what has come through so strongly over the past month is how important every single animal is to us."

Report: Poachers slaughter half the elephant population in Cameroon park

At least half the elephants in Cameroon's Bouba N'Djida reserve were slaughtered because the west African nation sent too few security forces to tackle poachers, the World Wide Fund for Nature said on Thursday.

In what was described as one of the worst poaching massacres in decades, as many as 200 elephants have been killed for their tusks since January by poachers on horseback from Chad and Sudan, the fund said.

Rising demand in Asia for jewelry and ornaments made from elephant tusks is understood to be among the factors behind the spike in poaching.

"WWF is disturbed by reports that the poaching continues unabated," Natasha Kofoworola Quist, WWF's representative in the region, said in a statement.

It was the second major elephant-poaching report out of Africa this month. On March 5, the warden at Virunga National Park, a U.N. World Heritage Site in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said poaching had become so severe that rangers began using bloodhounds to track down poachers. The Virunga elephant population has fallen to fewer than 400 from an estimated 3,000 in the 1980s.

In Cameroon, about 20 fresh elephant carcasses were discovered last week, a WWF spokesperson said.

The government of the Central African state has sent special forces to track the poachers and end the killing spree in the north of the country, but the WWF said this may be too little, too late.

"The forces arrived too late to save most of the park's elephants and were too few to deter the poachers," Quist said. She said the organization regretted that a soldier was killed during a clash with the poachers.

Biologically diverse and protected only by unarmed rangers, Bouba N'djida is located near Cameroon's porous northern border, where it presents a tempting target for poachers from Sudan and Chad, the magazine Nature reported. They typically cross into the park on horseback at the beginning of each dry season and return north before rains begin in April, using ivory profits to procure more weaponry.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare, or IFAW, said the scale of this year's killings was unprecedented.

IFAW said it was not clear how many elephants remained in Cameroon but a 2007 estimate put the figure at between 1,000 and 5,000.

Conservation groups have said the spike in poaching and illegal ivory trade in Africa was a direct consequence of China's investment drive into the continent and as the demand for ivory, used in jewelry and ornaments, grows in Asia.

In South Africa, rhinos are under assault by poachers, who killed more than 400 last year, NBC's Rock Center reported.

All you breeders, take some photos:  because your kids are going to grow up in a world without these animals.  TTFN!

[mongers]

Many human minds are grotesque things; warped, fucked up and hooked on to any old mumbo-jumba.

Is it any wonder that they think ground up animals give them magical powers, or that The god talks to them directly or there are vast sinister conspiracies out to get them.

Frankly, I sometimes think we might be living through the twilight of reason.

[The Brain]

There are worse people than CdM.

[garbon]

Many human minds are grotesque things; warped, fucked up and hooked on to any old mumbo-jumba.

Is it any wonder that they think ground up animals give them magical powers, or that The god talks to them directly or there are vast sinister conspiracies out to get them.

Frankly, I sometimes think we might be living through the twilight of reason.

I hardly think superstitions are the worst thing ever, it is just unfortunate that they sometimes necessitate slaughter.

[The Brain]

Many human minds are grotesque things; warped, fucked up and hooked on to any old mumbo-jumba.

Is it any wonder that they think ground up animals give them magical powers, or that The god talks to them directly or there are vast sinister conspiracies out to get them.

Frankly, I sometimes think we might be living through the twilight of reason.

I hardly think superstitions are the worst thing ever, it is just unfortunate that they sometimes necessitate slaughter.

Jesus. You two really hate the Chinese.

[CountDeMoney]

I hardly think superstitions are the worst thing ever,

Until they're proven wrong and people believe them anyway.

[Razgovory]

The US government should start selling fake rhino horns filled with asbestos.

[mongers]

The US government should start selling fake rhino horns filled with asbestos.

Now that's a black op I can approve of.

[DontSayBanana]

The US government should start selling fake rhino horns filled with asbestos.

That'd be awesome.

[derspiess]

The US government should start selling fake rhino horns filled with asbestos.

Hell, we could pool our resources & do that.  All we need to do is find a distribution outlet in Vietnam & China.

[grumbler]

There are worse people than CdM.

[Razgovory]

The US government should start selling fake rhino horns filled with asbestos.

Hell, we could pool our resources & do that.  All we need to do is find a distribution outlet in Vietnam & China.

Sounds like a job for Mono!

[KRonn]

Such a travesty, that poachers slaughter these animals.       

[Caliga]

No, not the GOP;  they've got their own problems.  Unfortunately for us, Rick Santorum's not being hunted for his fillings.

I'll get Uncle Georgie right on it.

[Ed Anger]

No, not the GOP;  they've got their own problems.  Unfortunately for us, Rick Santorum's not being hunted for his fillings.

I'll get Uncle Georgie right on it.