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@xsinet.co.za
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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.
AGM final reminder
Bookings for the AGM close on Sunday 25th January and payments should be made by then as well – So if you are planning to come, please phone 033 343 1534 or email yunnied@telkomsa.net
Please forward to Green team
Readers Respond
N.B. please don’t send comments to the editor if you don’t want them to end up in the C~S!
Dear Don,
Many thanks for the latest issue of Cleft Stick and of course the comments to my note to you which was not intended for publication and I would not have used the terminology I did for which I apologize.
Regarding the debacle; I am fully aware of status and distribution of the various subspecies as well as the history pertaining to DO.be. Michaela in Southern Africa. I had tremendous admiration for Tillman Laden who purchased the animals from National Parks many years ago with the ultimate goal of eventually returning them to their former range; all this at his cost!
The confusion lies in the press statement......
The minister for Tourism and Natural Resources, Ms Shams Twanging, revealed this during a visit to
the Signet Grummet Reserves in Serengeti district, Mara region. She said the rhinos would be a donation from Kruger National Park, the largest park in Africa. (Subspecies D.b. minor)
"At the moment rhinos are very few in our parks and we have evolved strategies to increase their
number," said the minister.
She said the black rhinos would arrive in Tanzania when the Government is ready. It was now putting in
place final preparations before they are flown from South Africa.
Ms Twanging explained that among the 45 rhinos 18 would be females.
I had no option but to challenge this statement as tragically there are many conservation misdemeanors that literally get swept under the carpet for all sorts of reasons. What really surprises and disappoints me is that there is NO mention of the patriot, Tielman Ludin who had the foresight, integrity, initiative and generosity to realize a dream that he will not see.
Why does National Parks get the credit when they have no D.b. michaeli? So yes, one has to challenge this statement for which I do not apologize for. At least now the record is correct.
Regards,
Peter
--- Hallo All
This is exactly what we’ve been trying to prevent all these years : press coverage and moving into the forefront where we stand to lose more than what we can gain. There will be enough press coverage of the event, but only once the translocations had happened and only on the Tanzanian side with the official hand over from SANParks to TANAPA.
In the light of rhino conservation I would urge you to please keep this under wraps.
Kind regards
Rubin
--- Don
I found this Black Rhino comment to be generally emotively ill-informed and interspersed with blurb and red herrings.
Kruger Park rhinos get poached. KZN rhinos get poached. Serengeti rhinos get poached. The rhinos of Zimbabwe have been decimated. And what of Garamba’s Northern white rhinos? I shall not undermine the protectors, or poke fun at the serious threat of poaching, because wherever they are, the rangers and conservationists who are worth their salt do their utmost to protect them. They are usually prepared to fight and die for their beliefs. Yet despite the wisest, strongest people with the highest standards, ethics, ideals and aspirations in the world giving their best to conservation, it’s a fact that that we win some and lose some. If we in conservation can all sleep at night having truthfully given our best, what more can be the demand? Wildlife managers move animals to distribute genetic material and to reduce risks. Ian Player and his team did it with white rhinos in the 1970’s. Even to not-so-secure places, but look at them now. They are like (very big) flies, all over the place. Why should the same not happen with Black Rhinos or any other species for that matter? Because a few sceptics are afraid to take the risk? I take my hat of to those who are prepared to try and fail, rather than not to try at all.
On the “safe” rhino issue. I saw Farmer Fanie recently, and he has four white rhinos grazing peacefully on his farm. Initially the stockman nearly wet himself, but I predict those white rhinos grazing with the cows will soon be tame enough to herd with the cattle. The rhinos arrived when a nearby dam was low, and the reserve manager there is aware the rhinos are “next door”, but the dam is full again now so they cant just be shooed back. Before anyone climbs onto the ranger’s case, he is a very well respected, highly experienced GRAA member. Sh*t happens. A rescue/ return operation for four rhinos is not a five minute job for two field rangers. Apart from a 24 hour guard, is the standard minimum weekly sighting not enough? The farmer and the ranger know they are there and will look after them. Or do the rhino custody critics want all rhinos kept where we can count them all from our office windows?
Don’t misunderstand me, I really like rhinos, but why such a fuss? What about the plight of hedgehogs, the hippos, jackals, bat-eared foxes and others being slaughtered on a daily basis because they are so-called “damage causing/ problem animals”? What of the owls and nightjars, flattened on our roads, or the dugong in the seas? Why are we not shouting very loudly about them? I agree rhinos are valuable. The German philosopher, Immanuel Kant said some things have a price or relative worth, while others have a dignity or inner worth. Hunters say “if it pays it stays”, but how the heck do you value a rhino, a hedgehog, wilderness, the biggest fig tree along your bit of river, your oldest friendship, or your rights in a democratically governed country. Auction prices are what landowners are prepared to pay. And the animals sold on auction would be dirt cheap at twice the price. Sometimes we should look beyond money.
With this rhino story we really need to look at the bigger picture. We need to go beyond chirping because someone has the cojones to do things. And work together towards that big conservation vision, beyond the Bonnox, and not just in our own back yards. Perhaps governments should take a stronger stance to prosecute, punish or re-patriate poachers instead of slapping them on the wrists. Perhaps its time to cut diplomatic ties with the Vietnamese. Its time for the gloves to come off! Support by governance structures is critical. If the penalty for killing a rhino (or hedgehog) was appropriate and reached to a life sentence or worse, then rhino poachers would decline in number out of fear of the consequence. Strong penalties would send out the type of message that is sorely needed, and conservationists would not be worried about moving rhinos around. The trouble is that civil society values the lives of criminals (poachers) too highly. That is the crux of this problem and that is what should change.
Tim Snow
Professional member No 155.
Quo vadis? GRAA: from the past into the future, Jim Feely, member no. 2
A very real part of the problem in resolving this question, as time goes by, is that the GRAA was founded by men who, from early boyhood (1940’s – 1950’s), were enthralled by the outdoors, and by some form or other of animal or plant life. We were often also hunters, fishers or collectors of birds’ eggs, fish, butterflies or reptiles, particularly, and for some even bigger game like dassies, duiker or springbok. We became ever more involved, widening our interests in natural history as we matured. And we then had the space, the freedom and the active encouragement of our elders to do so, within reason. Thus, for us it became self-evident that the natural world must be protected from human abuse and misuse. Wise use became our slogan. But what is wise, what isn’t? There lies the rub, as we came to learn.
So our 'be-all and end-all' when we left school – for those not scholastically inclined - was to find a job in which we could indulge our fascinations and the need to protect them, and get paid to do it (though not much). Only game ranging offered that. So we became game rangers, if we were lucky, and learnt on the job. We experienced the pitfalls and pleasures of being the men at the coal-face of, initially, protected area conservation and, later, environmental conservation in general. There too we learnt some of the indigenous knowledge of our, then mainly illiterate, African subordinates. This they had acquired directly from their elders and a life spent from childhood continuously in the outdoors where we had come to work. We learned much, but not nearly enough, from them. Much that they knew has been permanently lost, with the notable exception of Ian Player’s remarkable archive of Magqubu Ntombela’s memories.
Some of us even went on to graduate at university years later in whatever field grabbed our special interest. But we all have never lost our thrall to the outdoors and fascination with wildlife. Consequently, through the years after GRAA’s foundation it attracted a like-minded bunch of fellows to its fold. However, more and more - if not most – environmental officers today are not from such a background. They have been brought up and educated with a second-hand experience of nature and the outdoors, gained mostly from TV and increasingly the internet. They have been indoctrinated in class-rooms and motor vehicles, with the new paradigm in which nature has value only in providing for our physical sustenance, no more. It is therefore just a job for most, and their employers don't want more.
In fact the old school were a pain in the arse to employers because we were never 'yes men'. We said so when we disagreed with some odious diktat from above, and refused to carry it out. We were prepared to rock the boat if necessary, and did. The best of our bosses knew how to handle us, and get the best out of us, because they too had come – a generation or two earlier - from the same background and understood our motives. They also have gone.
"Those days are past now, and in the past they must remain" (The Corries', in 'O Flower of Scotland'). But I will never be ashamed of my life and beliefs - I am proud of them - and they were essential to their day. So the new generation must develop new solutions to the problems of defending nature from the ever-increasing horde of rapacious urbanised humans - whose number has quadrupled in my adult lifetime, whose best and worst motives are equally materialistic now.
We past and present game rangers are attempting this, in a our little way, for the second (?third) but not the last time. ‘Tol’ Pienaar’s title for his history of the lowveld and the Kruger National Park, Neem uit die verlede (Take from the past) what you need now and for the future, is a good motto. To do this one needs to know that past, learn from it, and hopefully not be doomed to repeat it. In that quest, don’t throw out with the bad what has always been good. This has been happening in too many spheres, like electricity supply for instance, and with equally disastrous consequences.
Us old-timers are sitting in the sun on the stoop now, shaking our heads along with Oom Schalk Louwrens, and saying: "What's the world coming to?" Just as the elderly have always done from time immemorial (plenty of good quotes in the Old Testament and Shakespeare, as elsewhere no doubt). In all this, I am gladdened and sustained by the knowledge that nature and the wild places are far more resilient to our intrusions, whatever their intent, than ever I realised so many years ago.
Winter Solstice, 2008
Transport to the AGM
Hi
I will be leaving Nelspruit around about the 5th February, traveling through Bots where I intend to do some fishing in the swamps and at Shakawe, before going into the Caprivi and looking around. I might also decide to stop off in the Kalahari Nat Park for a few days en route – nothing in concrete yet. After the meeting will take a leisurely jaunt through Nam, before returning to Nelspruit. I will be traveling by myself in a Land Cruiser bakkie, so if anyone has the time or inclination to accompany me, the pleasure will be mine.
Kind Regards
John Watson
SA pushes ahead with carbon dioxide storage Atlas project
By: Brindaveni Naidoo, 16th January 2009
South Africa is a carbon-intensive nation, with 89% of the country's primary energy needs derived from fossil fuels. Given the increasingly intensive global focus on climate change, there is a growing realisation that South Africa is going to need to adopt a lower-carbon energy trajectory, if it hopes to avoid the financial and social penalties that now look inevitable, not only for the developed world, but also for advanced developing countries.
The country emits about 400-million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year, which represents 1% of total emissions on the global scale. And, with the advent of new coal-fired electricity-generating stations and new coal- and gas-to-liquids fuel plants, South Africa's emissions are likely to rise still further.
But, given South Africa's abundance of coal and the limitations, and expense, associated with renewables as a bulk energy supplier, much emphasis is being given to clean coal technologies – a point also heavily criticised by many environmental campaigners, who simply believe that the industry will never be able to deliver on its promises.
The immediate focus is on carbon capture and storage (CCS). But, while there is a growing acceptance that the storage of carbon will be commercially viable, possibly by 2016, there is far less certainty on the viability and cost of storage.
That is why a R2-million initiative to develop the ‘South Africa CO2 Storage Atlas' is potentially interesting. This project will look at identifying existing geological formations for the possible future storage of CO2.
It also has heavyweight support, with State-owned utilities Eskom and PetroSA, diversified miner Anglo American, petrochemicals producer Sasol, and the South African National Energy Research Institute (Saneri) providing financial support for the project. It will use existing geological information to identify potential sites for the possible future storage of CO2. The results of this project will be available in 2010.
In essence, CCS is the process of removing the CO2 produced by hydrocarbon (coal, oil and gas) combustion or processing (for example, gasification) before it enters the atmosphere. Its proponents believe it could reduce up to 90% of the emissions produced from fossil fuels in power stations and industrial facilities, which then could be stored safely underground.
But it is a new technology globally, with any projects that are taking place occurring at a relatively small scale, and there are limited research and development budgets to support the roll-out of prospective projects in developing countries, including South Africa.
Article shortened – for the full article go to Engineering News or let me know & I can send it to you - ed
Edited by: Creamer Media Reporter
Observer articles: US President 'has four years to save Earth'
warns Nasa scientist Jim Hansen
The other side of the CO2 debate, March 27, 2008 , Burlington, Washington Dr. Don J. Easterbrook, Professor Emeritus Geology, Western Washington University, author of 8 books, 150 journal publications with focus on geomorphology; glacial geology; Pleistocene geochronology; environmental and engineering geology.
Don J. Easterbrook: Some people say that global warming skeptics think the moon shot was staged and the earth is flat… Ken L. Coffman: Funny you should mention that, here it is, I have the exact quote. Al Gore: You're talking about Dick Cheney. I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view, they’re almost like the ones who still believe that the moon landing was staged in a movie lot in Arizona and those who believe the world is flat. ... That demeans them a little bit, but it's not that far off. CBS-TV, 60 Minutes, March 30, 2008
The full article (transcript of this interview) is available from me in pdf 14 pages (113kb) – ed
Zululand Wildlife e-Forum
- Online Information Updates - FYI
Rhino poaching gangs apprehended
ZWF Comment ::
FYI - This is great news at the success of the SA Police Service and parks authorities, hopefully the courts will step up to the plate with strict justice, perhaps they should also be "dehorned" !!
xxx
11 suspected syndicate members held after 74 rhino slain
Edition 1 January 19, 2009
JOHANNESBURG: A syndicate of 11 suspected poachers have been arrested for a spate of rhino slaughters in the country's top wildlife areas, authorities said yesterday.
Rhino poaching has escalated with 74 animals killed countrywide in state and private reserves since January last year, including 37 at the Kruger National Park.
"It is a big problem because if you will see in 2007 we only had 10 rhinos that were poached," said Kruger national parks spokesperson Wanda Mkutshulwa. "It's a huge leap from 10 to 37 - that is why we brought in the police service to assist us."
The 11 detained poachers include Mozambicans, South Africans and Chinese nationals whose cases are to be consolidated for hearing in a single court, authorities said.
"The vicious tactics em-ployed in the execution of these animals is just beyond comprehension," SA Police Service and parks authorities said in a statement yesterday. - Sapa-AFP
xxx
Three men arrested over rhino horn
Riot Hlatshwayo - The Sowetan 15 January 2009
A Chinese doctor and two other Chinese nationals have been arrested after they were found in possession of four black rhinoceros horns.
The horns are believed to have been poached from animals in the Kruger National Park. The three were arrested in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Mpumalanga police Superintendent Obed Ngwenya said the suspects would appear in court today. He said the authorities were alarmed at how the horns left the country and said customs authorities needed to be probed.
Raymond Travers of the Kruger Park said the black rhino was one of the rarest endangered species in SA.
“We strongly condemn the poaching of the black rhino,” he fumed.
Distributed by :: Zululand Wildlife E-Forum - Online News
Secretariat Coordinator - Tim Condon tim.condon@shaw.ca
HOW TO DEVELOP DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT PLANS FOR WORLD HERITAGE PROPERTIES
A RESOURCE MANUAL
Disaster Risk Reduction
Does anyone have any potential contributors? Can you circulate as much as possible as this is an opportunity for us to make a positive contribution to a manual with a worldwide audience. Comments welcome
65 pages pdf (375kb) let me know if you want a copy or think you can contribute to its development. Ed
Food for thought?
(Taken from Getaway Magazine, February 2009)
On your next outdoor adventure, think twice before leaving beer cans at your campsite or tossing cigarette butts into the river. Here’s a list highlighting how long it takes for common refuse to degrade when left in the environment or at a landfill, according to the US National Park Service:
POSITION(s) AVAILABLE
1) I am looking for an experienced conservation manager (5 years management) to fill the position of Second in Charge, Liuwa Plain National Park. The applicant should be keen on field work and not afraid of hard work or remote living. Enquiries can be directed to me at the mail address below. Candidates are encouraged to check our website (address below) for more info on the Park and African Parks as an organisation.
Craig Reid
Project Coordinator
Liuwa Plain National Park
Kalabo, Western Province, Zambia
Mobile phone 0977706572, Skype craig.reid4, www.african-parks.org
I have a more detailed job description available on request – ed
Tailpiece
A woman goes to the doctor for her annual physical.
The nurse starts with certain basic items.
"How much do you weigh?" she asks.
"115," she says.
The nurse puts her on the scale.
It turns out her weight is 140.
The nurse asks, "Your height?"
"5 foot 8," she says.
The nurse checks and sees that she only measures 5' 5".
She then takes her blood pressure
And tells the woman it's very high.
"Of course it's high!" she screams,
"When I came in here I was tall and slender!
Now I'm short and fat!"