For a handful of horn
TV Documentary "Saving Rhino Phila '
In South Africa this year have been shot illegally for over 360 rhinos.
landowners trying to save their animals. Phila the rhino became a symbol in the fight against poachers.
Chewy Nature: The black rhino Phila was shot several times and now lives in a zoo in Johannesburg.
T he
raid is well prepared. The helicopter is ready, the car with the ground troops on the way to Allan Salkinders farm. The guns are in the trunk. Mid-June 2010, Region Limpopo, South Africa. Somewhere in the vastness of Allan's game farm, 6000 acres of bush land, poachers cut the wire fence, enter the premises of the private reserve. Mobile and wireless devices are on reception, the GPS device in your pocket. Night vision equipment, supplies for the night, tuna cans, cola, chip bags. Rifles. AK-47 Kalashnikovs. The poachers must know the terrain must have been here once before. You do not do that as a hobby. The groups are organized gangs. They come with airplanes, helicopters, automatic weapons. They are well equipped, and they shoot at police or rangers when they interfere with the hunting of rhinos. Poachers are shot, it hits mostly the henchmen.
When the poacher in the night at the waterhole discover the black rhino, they fire on all cylinders on a female that has its owner Allan Salkinder "Phila" baptized, and on another, male animal. Although you meet, but not really. The animals run away. Over the radio, the men call on the floor of the helicopter. It does not take long until it reaches the area of the rhinos. On the men replace the cell phone GPS coordinates. The helicopter is in search of the rhino. The people on the ground also take to the track.
The pilot and his colleague discover a Philas of conspecifics. You shoot him in the head. The bull is dead occupy the angle of the bullet holes that it was the people in the helicopter, who struck him. Phila refuge, although she has a bullet shot in the leg, another in the chest. Dust swirls. The poachers Phila track by helicopter. She escapes, hiding somewhere in the bush. The pilot set the helicopter down next to the dead rhino. The men grab chain saws and saw the bull from the horn. If you still chop the stump out of the head, one comes into possession of a valuable remnant horn. But the poachers must have become nervous to make his escape. Allan Salkinder was restless all day. When he had known that they would rob him of the night a valuable animal.
With helicopters of this type do poachers hunt for rhino (trailing scene from the television documentary "Saving Rhino Phila").
In 2012. Allan Salkinder resting on his road bike through the savannah, scrubland toward where his rhinos live. Red dust swirls behind him. In the distance, a buffalo herd grazes. Zebras and giraffes watch the motorcycle.
Phila's Allan Salkinders care. He says: "The bush pilots have to fly well. You have to fly as far as possible, have a low speed, have to be able to fly the part without looking at the instruments. »The poachers fly by feel. You know the behavior of the animals and know where they are run. They have to behave like a shepherd who holds the flock. «Fly a few feet above the treetops. Rhino hide under trees. You fly over a tree that stirs up so much dust that the animals get panic and run away. "
Police believe that the poachers knew the terrain. No one can so easily fly over in a helicopter and shoot rhinos. The guys were well supplied with inside information. "They've been watching us, they have made a plan," says Salkinder. The poachers on the ground are locals know their way in the bush. "The coming under cover of darkness. They have planned their escape routes. We have found the sleeves of ammunition, caliber 5.56. It is not unheard of that the poachers get their weapon for one night for 400 euros by the police. Illegal, clearly, those are police weapons. "
A few days after the poachers had come for the first time, heard Allan and his farm manager Dave again a helicopter flying over the area. They called around the area, wanted to know who belongs to the helicopter, "Robinson 44", this model includes most of poachers. "That was us too delicate. We had to Phila days found seriously injured in the bush and brought to treatment in the enclosure, away from the farm house, far out in the bush. Since she was an easy target for poachers. "Even the other eleven rhinos in the area were in danger. Allan Salkinder let them catch costly, saw no other option than to take away the horns. Allan is pragmatic. "I said to myself, rather than a rhino horns without a dead rhino. It was an attempt, even if I knew that the poachers often also chop out the last bit from the head. "Allan The decision was not easy though. It was a last effort to save his animals. The veterinarian sawed the horns off with a chainsaw. Allan was crying.
668 rhinos were killed in South Africa in 2012. In the current year already more than 360 Many conservationists fear that the animals could be completely extinct until a few decades. In almost all African countries, they are already gone.
The black rhinos are critically endangered. Only the 4800 live in South Africa. With the slightly larger white rhinos there are 25,000. That's 90 percent of the world population. South Africa has about 400 private rhino owners like Allan Salkinder. 40 percent of the animals here are privately owned. The other rhinos live in national parks, on vast areas. Alone, the Kruger National Park is about the size of Israel.
On Allan's farm. His workers were allowed to tell anyone about Phila. . "Because you can not trust anyone here» Six weeks after the first raid decided Allan and his people: Phila has to go. It is too dangerous here. They were afraid that one of the workers sold for a few beers in the Shabeen, illegal pub, information about the location of Phila. The helicopter made Allan nervous. They wanted to bring Phila to a secret location. A neighbor has an equally large farm with rhinos, buffalos, giraffes. His stables and enclosures are well secured with steel doors, watchtowers, guards. In this enclosure Phila should be cured. She was on the mend. Allan wanted to wait only two weeks left until the rainy season is over. He wanted to give good feed her again, then they should be released into the wild again. Everyone thought Phila was safe.
But one night came the poachers off the guards out, handcuffed them and took their weapons. They climbed over high fences and gates. Phila was locked, had no chance. The bullets penetrated deep into her body, into the ear in mouth, foot, neck, chest, shoulder. This time they could not kill Phila. The police arrived with a team venture. The farm manager had called her, and he had heard the shots from his home and panicked. Phila had not been so lucky - they would now be one of those giant, lying on his back and stretching his legs in the air carcass, whose images appear in the newspapers.
Limited protection of the approximately 25,000 rhinos living in South Africa, 40 percent are privately owned.
The poachers have caused much controversy in the area. Everyone suspects everyone here to stick with the syndicates under a blanket. The order is messed up. It involves extremely large sums of money. Even Allan Salkinders veterinarian was accused of having acted with horns and killed 20 animals in cooperation with a farmer. The balls that were in Philas body, come from a weapon that has already killed many animals.
Allan: "Before the attack, the vet had yet come to the farm. They told me afterwards that he had been taken in trade with horns. "
"Do not you want to know more, Allan?"
"No, I can not stand that. What in it for me? In our case we have no evidence against this man. "
No one knows exactly who are the masterminds who maintains contact with international syndicates here. The criminals are well organized. You win in the private reserves or in the National Parks informants among employees. The local traders buy the horns from poaching gangs who are familiar with the procurement of the horn, tracking down and killing the bush. Sometimes the distributors are also killing themselves, as presumably Allan veterinarian. At the next level and serve national dealer couriers. At the international level couriers and distributors in Asia take delivery of the goods and ensure that the outlets are supplied. This works similarly to the drug business. The horns are processed in China and Vietnam to powder as an aphrodisiac, as a remedy for cancer, for fever and pain. The people who act in Asia with the horns, to know how to market their product. On the black market costs one kilo horn to 80,000 dollars, more than a kilo of gold. A horn can weigh five kilograms.
"One day after the last attack on Phila my neighbor called me on, said: <You can not leave your rhino here. . Pick it up, today, 'I said, <How am I supposed to pick up the downed rhino? Should I take it on a leash and lead her home? You know what, Peter? Fuck you. Pack the rhino on your trailer and shove it over my fence.> "Allan saw no way to protect Phila in his spacious enclosure. He knew no better place than the Johannesburg Zoo. Here should be treated Philas violations in safety. He negotiated with the zoo. If the wounds are healed, so the deal was, the animal should be released in a safe place in the bush again.
Two years later, Phila still lives in Johannesburg zoo - in a house with tiled walls, in front of an enclosure where they can present the feet a little himself. At the beginning of Phila came at the slightest noise in panic. They rammed-everything you got in the way. She was not used to people and cars. She was wild and aggressive. This could see the zoo. A man with a stroller is on the fence and says: "You should kill these poachers. Fuck them "This thinking also many who express themselves in Internet forums.!" Killing "In the background, cars honking in traffic from Johannesburg. A blue tractor chugs past the enclosure. He pulls trailers with tots of kindergarten age. To scream the 40 children as they see Phila. Phila wiggles his ears. Rhinos have small eyes, a good sense of smell, short legs, can run very fast, up to 45 kilometers per hour. They are very agile despite their masses. White rhinos are peaceful. Black rhinos as Phila attack for no reason.
The keeper hopes that Phila to return to the nature. «Phila has gained weight. She is now so far. She loves to hide in the bush. "Black rhinos eat the leaves and branches of trees. In Philas enclosure are two trees that she has eaten bare. Phila has a problem with flies. It rains a lot in Johannesburg. Here at the zoo, there are a lot of flies. They sit down on the wounds, so you can not heal properly the. Phila stands on lush, green grass. Like the black rhino do not like in contrast to the white rhino.
Many animal rights activists are against Phila still lives at the zoo. Selomie Maritz is one of them
. She writes on Facebook: "Dear Phila, I still think of you every day. You are a very brave lady. I love you, girl, I've dreamed of you. "
Just like Allan Salkinder Selomie has a large fenced areas in the Limpopo region. They are like neighbors, though very far from each other. Selomie Maritz does not give up. "Wild animals do not belong in a zoo. This is against the law. And look, you see it, you go there not good. She has stress. "
The reserve of Selomie Maritz is surrounded by mountains. Coming night is a full moon. Not far from her house, a huge, expensive house, four white rhinos. Volunteers have come to form a kind of vigilante. You want to go out at night on patrol to protect rhinos Selomies. "We have volunteers young women. They look like dolls, cute, but they can shoot. "Selomie Maritz travels with her land cruiser over to the rhinos. A cow is pregnant, the boy could come tonight. Selomie the car at the next eating animals and gets out. She says the rhino, "Mieh. Mieh. Mieh. "This is the animal calm. "We sleep next to our Rhinos. I want to set no foreign staff, I would not trust him. And the private security companies are very expensive. "
On the night Selomie gets a radio message from an aide: "Caution. I ge see lights on the mountain. "
Selomie: "Okay, we are on our way."
On the roof of the SUV, a blue indicator light flashes. If there really poachers to explore the area in the mountains, let them think it was a police car. Selomie drives past a settlement. Decaying buildings. She stops, lit with a spotlight in a few houses. The residents come from Mali and Zimbabwe. About 50 people sit in front of a house. A fire burns. Selomie asks for a green, foreign car, seen here more often lately. The people here live without water, without electricity and without a job in the old stables, a small church and the former school. Selomie: "You can not let them live
actually. I would like to help the people, but no one will help us to help these people. The government does nothing for them. If we could solve these problems in our area, we would not need weapons. There is a lack of education, accommodation and employment. People steal, or they become lackeys of the poaching syndicates. You must understand that these animals are important. We must make it clear to them that these animals bring long-term money that tourists therefore come to us. "
To keep rhinos is a luxury hard to justify, given the poverty of many people here. The rhino is a status symbol for many rich people. Really rich people. Many have a winery, a house on the coast, a plane and a private nature reserve with giraffes, elephants, leopards, lions, buffalo and rhino. Since people want to live in peace. The wilderness is fenced. Selomie says: "The moon. Look how bright it makes it here. Why people call him the poacher moon here. "
"If you're a cop in Limpopo, you deserve to 250 francs a month. The car has broken down, the phone also does not work, the school fees for the children to be paid. And then there are out here in the country mostly rich, mostly white conservationists who are crazy about animals. They say they are conservationists, they wanted to preserve. There are around here, an old Englishman who is familiar with the different lizards. He is very interested in these animals. He told the local people how important these animals are, which must be protected. But many here among the people give a damn care about these worms or lizards. And just as little about the rhino. South Africa has an incredible gap between wealth and poverty. "
A dead owl is on the road. Big, pretty, run over. Selomie it takes high. It is still warm. "Look how peaceful she looks." They were always in pairs, side by side always flown. Selomie stroking the owl says, "She's beautiful." She keeps them for a while in his hand, then submit them to the owl in the grass at the roadside. Many blacks say white people only cared about their animals. Bounce in Africa successive values. The idea of individual ownership and the traditional African notion of common property as they are maintained by the people of the Zulu or Xhosa of the differ. «Ubuntu», which is the spirit, the sharing, the sense of community, the idea that one is part of a whole. The animals are wild animals, they do not belong to the whites, they are all here. White and many say: "You can shoot a quiet from these poachers who find that dirty job for getting new people."
