More feet to fight rhino poaching
44 field rangers complete their training at Ezemvelo’s Field Training Centre.
EZEMVELO KZN Wildlife is adding an additional 44 pairs of ‘feet-on-the-ground’ in an effort to boost the organisation’s capacity in its rhino-carrying reserves.
Nearly half of the 44 additional field rangers have already completed their training at Ezemvelo’s Field Training Centre.
Fifteen will be deployed to the 64 000ha Ozabeni Game Reserve section of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park World Heritage Sit, where 21 rhinos have been lost this year.
While aerial surveillance has become an important component of the rhino poaching war, it is imperative that there are people on the ground to follow-up on intelligence received from the air.
Foot soldiers have, and always will be, an important component in the efforts to curb rhino poaching.
The boosting of the ranger numbers comes as a result of a needs assessment completed earlier this year.
It was established that aside from 90 field posts remaining vacant, Ozabeni was under-staffed by at least 16 rangers.
This was measured against the IUCN standard which stipulates that there should be one Field Ranger per 10 square kilometres.
Ezemvelo CEO, Dr Bandile Mkhize, says that severe financial restrictions simply prevents the organisation from filling all the vacant posts.
‘Nevertheless, I am pleased that the staff assessment I called for earlier this year has resulted in finding funds for additional staff,’ he said.
Dr Mkhize said however complex the rhino poaching war has proven to be, it was ‘simply indisputable’ that whilst technology assists as a tool to improve surveillance and detection, feet-on-the-ground was an indispensable component of the battle.
The total number of rhinos lost this year in KZN stands at 84.
