Sunday, 10th January 2010
IN THIS ISSUE
Sad News
GRAA AGM 1- 4 March 2010, Berg en dal Camp, KNP
Suspected Poacher Shot In Imfolozi
Rhino Horns Recovered In Roadblock
Finally, a sure-fire way to win the Lotto—
Publication: A review of Malignant Catarrhal Fever
2009 Report Spotted hyaenas Caprivi Region
POSITION(s) Wanted
Conservation student
POSITION(s) AVAILABLE
Opportunity to work in the bush!
Tailpiece
Hi again,
Herewith, some snippets from various sources.
I appeal to you to send me items to distribute to our members for the Cleft Stick, the Game Ranger magazine and to be posted on the web site. These are your magazines and website, so ensure it gets the news that you would like to see in it.
Please let me have any changes to your physical address, phone no. or e-mail address to keep the database up to date. Remember this is the address we will send your Game Ranger Magazine to.
Thanks to all of you who have made the effort. Please will any of you who know of members who do not get this "electric" Cleft~Stick, & have access to e-mail, pass their address along to me.
Don Yunnie
7 Chalet Drive, Hilton, 3245, South Africa Local Tel & Fax (033) 343 1534
Int. Tel & Fax (+2733) 343 1534 cell 082 377 7562, E-mail dyunnie@telkomsa.net
If you do not wish to receive this e-mail newsletter please send a blank e-mail to me at the above address with the word “Unsubscribe” as the message heading.
Please feel free to write to express your views on the content or the subject of any of the articles in this magazine – to the address above.
Sad news
Although Sue Hart was not a member I am sure many of you will remember or know of her work
Just to inform you that Dr Sue Hart passed away this morning (06 January 2010) from a massive stroke. She was in the Medi Clinic in Nelspruit.
GRAA AGM 1- 4 March 2010, Berg en dal Camp, KNP
Just a final reminder that bookings close this week (15th January) after which any unallocated accommodation will be returned to Sanparks for reletting to the public. Anyone who has booked via free bed nights through their organisation must please let Jackey know, via an application form (mark the form “booked free bed nights”), to confirm and pay your delegate fees, so she will know to cater for you (and anyone else in your party) for teas and dinners. If you have not kept your application form, please let me know asap and I will send you a copy, or contact Jackey Deacon at dot@mpu.co.za.
Come on everyone, this is our 40th Anniversary celebration, let’s make it an AGM to remember.
Suspected Poacher Shot In Imfolozi,Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Media Release Number: 2009 – 28
For Immediate release:
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZNW) reports that two suspected rhino poachers were wounded and one killed in an exchange of gunfire with Field rangers in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in the evening of 25 December 2009 at about 19.45.
Field Rangers in the iMfolozi section of the Park heard shots in the western part of the Makhamisa section of iMfolozi at about 19.40 and staff immediately swung into action in line with a long established anti-poaching procedure.
At about 19.45 Field Rangers near the Park boundary fence heard a group of people approaching from inside the Park.
Using torches the Field Rangers identified themselves and then challenged the intruders, who immediately cocked their weapons and brought them to bear on the rangers.
In the ensuing exchange of gunfire one suspected poacher was shot dead and two others sustained gunshot wounds.
The EKZNW staff immediately gave the wounded suspects first aid treatment and they were duly evacuated by ambulance to a nearby hospital where they remain under SAPS guard.
The body of the dead suspect was removed by mortuary van.
In a subsequent search of the area two freshly removed rhino horns, two .308 rifles with slings, two axes and various other items of equipment, including cellphones, were collected.
At dawn the next morning (26 December 2009) EKZNW staff accompanied by members of the SAPS conducted a helicopter search of the area and found the carcase of an adult male white rhino on the banks of the White Umfolozi River in the Slevane area in the south eastern part of iMfolozi.
The incident was reported to the Mhlabathini SAPS station and an investigation involving the SAPS and EKZNW is underway.
“We regret that a life has been lost in this incident but I would like to reiterate that those who think they can plunder our wildlife resources do so at their peril,” said Mr Sifiso Kheswa EKZNW General Manager for Zululand.
“I am only too grateful that none of our staff were injured in this incident and I commend their courage in challenging a band of armed men who were willing to shoot it out,” he added.
Ends
AJG/ Media Release No: 2009 - 28 DATE
Media:
For further information contact the Media Manager on 033 845 1235; email jeff@kznwildlife.com or fax 033 845 1299.
Rhino Horns Recovered In Roadblock Ezemvelo Kwazulu-Natal Wildlife, Media Release No: 2009 – 29
For Immediate release:
In a combined SAPS - Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZNW) operation four men were arrested in the Hluhluwe area after being found in possession of two black rhino horns on 26 December 2009.
The men confessed that they had obtained the horns from a rhino found stuck in mud in the wilderness area of the Eastern Shores of the iSimangalison Wetland Park.
The suspects led SAPS and EKZNW staff to the area where they found the carcase of a black rhino with spear wounds in its side.
Further investigation is underway.
Media Note: Please note that this incident is NOT connected to the iMfolozi Christmas Day rhino poaching incident as reflected in KZN WILDLIFE MEDIA RELEASE #28.
AJG/Media Release No: 2009 29 28 Dec 20
Media:
For further information contact the Media Manager on 033 845 1235; email jeff@kznwildlife.com or fax 033 845 1299.
Finally, a sure-fire way to win the Lotto-- smoke vulture brains!
The article below sent to me by John Turner of CP&RSS demonstrates the challenge that we and all others who are committed to conservation face in Africa. The major challenge is lifting the level of environmental awareness amongst all the citizens of our country.
One’s first reaction is to become angry and to seek to prosecute and punish all those in this tragic chain of “lack of awareness and state of unconsciousness”, from the poacher poisoning the vultures, the wholesaler who buys from the poacher to the retailer who prescribes vulture brains to the uninformed, naďve consumer who pays for it and hopes to achieve something that simply is not deserved or due to him – like winning the Lotto. This kind of hope is a sign of desperation and placing one’s hope in the hand of fortune and luck and not seeking the solutions to one’s problems through employing all one’s talent and energy in hard work.
This state of being is not easy for those at lower levels of awareness and much exploitation happens by unscrupulous manipulators for gain. In fact people at lower levels of awareness suffer a great deal unnecessarily in many ways.
Thinking strategically one must ask the question – “And then what?” So while vicious prosecution may make us feel a little better it is not sustainable as we simply cannot apprehend all the people who think at that level of consciousness to prevent them from doing unthinking deeds nevertheless we must endeavour to make it as difficult as possible and frustrate the efforts of the poachers and the chain of other players in this unfortunate drama through supporting the counter poaching work conducted by SANParks.
The long term sustainable answer lies in doing what we can to lift the levels of conservation awareness amongst the masses thereby creating self regulation and respect for all living things.
We have to create in-built intellectual immunity (bullshit detectors) against promises such as smoking dried vulture brains will make you able to see things that others cannot see (like the numbers that will win Lotto).
In my opinion our major challenges as SANParks Honorary Rangers can be summarised in 3 priorities:
I trust that you will read this report and be even more determined to do great things in these areas.
Regards,
Janssen.
Seeking Lotto riches, South Africans smoke vulture brains
ALEXANDRA LESIEUR | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Dec 27 2009 07:51
Smoking dried vulture brains to have a vision of winning Lotto numbers -- that's why customers come to Scelo, a vendor of traditional medicines, but it's a trend being blamed for killing off South Africa's vultures.
"Vultures are scarce. I only have one every three or four months," said Scelo, a young healer in downtown Johannesburg's muti market.
"Everybody asks for the brain. You see things that people can't see. For Lotto, you dream the numbers," he said.
Rolled into a cigarette or inhaled as vapours, vulture brains can also help at the horse races, boost an exam performance, or lure more clients to a business, according to believers.
Next to snake skins and ostrich feet, as well as donkey fat to chase away bad spirits, Scelo sells a tiny bottle with just a speck of ground brains for about R50.
The entire bird could go for R2 000. Vulture bones or feathers can be also mixed with herbs to make medicines, said one nyanga, or traditional healer, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We make the brain dry and mix it with mud and you smoke it like a cigarette or a stick. Then the vision comes," he said.
He prescribes mainly vulture heads, which he says bring visions of the future, endowing users with the bird's excellent vision that helps them fly out of nowhere to descend on carcasses.
It's a belief shared along Africa's east coast, as well as in some West African countries, according to experts.
Mthembeni wanted to buy a blend of ground brains and beaks -- not for himself, but to give to his dogs.
"I put it on their nose. Then they can detect any strange presence from kilometres away. It gives security to my family," the young Zulu said before turning away, dismayed at the price.
At least 160 vultures are sold each year for muti, according to a study by two wildlife groups.
Researcher Steve McKean estimates that up to 300 vultures are killed by a variety of causes, especially in the eastern province of Kwazulu-Natal, where poaching still goes largely unpunished.
"Traditional use as it is currently happening is likely to render vultures extinct in southern Africa on its own within 20-30 years," he said.
"Vultures are protected by law," he said, but that so far has been ineffective. McKean said improved public awareness and a better understanding of the trade in the birds was needed.
Seven of the nine species of vulture are considered endangered. Hunters shoot them, trap them or poison them with a pesticide called Aldicarb, which is deadly to humans, according to the group Ezemvelo Kwazulu-Natal Wildlife.
Scelo said he knows how to avoid the pesticide: "The meat is blue when it's poisoned."
Aside from hunters, vultures also face the threat of electrocution if they fly into high-voltage lines or drown in farm reservoirs, all the while coupled with a shortage of food and the loss of their habitat.
Despite the danger to the bird's survival, demand remains steady, according to vendors in downtown Johannesburg, who are little aware that they are contributing to the disappearance of certain animals and plants.
Among the stalls stacked with python and crocodile skins, two animals also threatened by the demand for muti, nyanga Samsum Mvubu ponders the real importance of the vultures.
"I don't believe that these things give you visions," he said. "But they do bring you luck." – AFP
Publication: A review of Malignant Catarrhal Fever in the Republic of South Africa (based on an MPhil study
Authors: Honiball, E.J.; Van Essen, L.D; Du Toit, J.G.
Aim of the study: Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) also commonly known as "snotsiekte" is a generalized viral disease of domestic cattle and buffaloes and many species of wild ruminants characterised by high fever, profuse nasal discharge, corneal opacity ophthalmia, generalised lymphadenopathy to name but a few symptoms.
The Animal Diseases Act (Act 35 of 1984) imposed certain control measures with regard to MCF. In 1993 the control measures were lifted with the result that at present no control measures exist in the legislation with regard to MCF.
The lifting of the control measures has allegedly resulted in an increase in outbreaks of MCF in the RSA. The outbreaks of the disease have not only caused large financial losses for cattle farmers, but have also emphasized land use conflicts and other contentious issues.
The principal purpose of this study was:
- to provide data on the occurrence and direct losses associated with MCF.
- to investigate the present state of MCF in South Africa with reference to different disciplines.
- to identify management options for further action to improve disease control.
The results of the study are summarized in an information booklet for free distribution. Printing and layout was sponsored by South African Veterinary Fund and CEVA ANIMAL HEALTH (PTY)Ltd. It will be available as an epublication on the Centre for Wildlife Management, UP. Hard Copies are available from LD van Essen (lvessen@wildlife.up.ac.za)
2009 Report Spotted hyaenas Caprivi Region
I have a very interesting report from Lise Hanssen in the Caprivi – anyone wanting to see it please drop me a line & I’ll send you a copy – it’s a 376 kb pdf file
POSITION(s) WANTED
Conservation student starting with his b-tech in 2010, looking for job in any conservation direction.
Looking for a job in Africa
My contact details are: Cell. 0848000479
E-MAIL address. machielpri@24.com
POSITION(s) AVAILABLE Opportunity to work in the bush!
The Klaserie Private Nature Reserve requires the services of a qualified and experienced administration manager.
Applicants must be mature, stable and be prepared to work in a wildlife conservation area.
The successful applicant will be responsible for the management of the administrative affairs of the reserve and will be required to assist with general reserve management from time to time.
Applicants must have the following requisite qualifications and experience:
Financial administration and accounting.
Computer literacy
General office and business administration.
Human resource documentation.
Good interpersonal skills.
Remuneration and benefits will be tailored to suit the applicant.
Interested persons are requested to forward their CV”s to: manager@klaseriereserve.co.za
Tailpiece
True Love.
An elderly couple, who were both widowed, had been going out with each other for a long time. Urged on by their friends, they decided it was finally time to get married.
Before the wedding, they went out to dinner and had a long conversation regarding how their marriage might work. They discussed finances, living arrangements and so on.
Finally, the old gentleman decided it was time to broach the subject of their physical relationship.
'How do you feel about sex?' he asked, rather tentatively.
'I would like it infrequently' she replied.
The old gentleman sat quietly for a moment, adjusted his glasses, leaned over towards her and whispered..........
'Is that one word or two?