To fight rhinoceros poaching, dogs give South African Park Rangers a crucial aid: NPR

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High-speed tracking dogs have been a game changer in the fight against rhinoceros poaching in South Africa. Their success depends on their ability to work as a team, which means they sleep and eat in speakers the size of a package shown above.

David Fuchs


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David Fuchs

High speed tracking dogs have been a game changer in the fight against rhinoceros poaching in South Africa. Their success depends on their ability to work as a team, which means that they sleep and eat in pens the size of a package shown above.

David Fuchs

Kock's Ruben trained the South African rangers for over two decades – but last month was the first time that one of his former students had been killed at work.

The July 19 incident, where 34 years old … The former Respect Mathebula died in shootings, it's the first time in 50 years that a ranger is killed by poachers in Kruger National Park. Yet, given the intensity of rhinoceros poaching in the region, this step is as surprising as it is tragic.

Home to nearly 80% of the world's rhino population, South Africa has seen poaching explode in the last decade. In 2007, 13 rhinos were killed by poachers. Last year, that number was 1,028, up from a high of 1,215 three years earlier, according to TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network. African rhinos include the almost threatened white rhino and the critically endangered black rhinoceros species.

Growing aggression of poachers – which would be largely related to criminal syndicates in Asia, where rhinoceros horn, valued for its so-called medicinal virtues, According to Kock, who oversees the training of rangers at Southern African Wildlife College From South Africa, a rhinoceros is present in Kruger National Park in South Africa. 2013.

Ian Walton / Getty Images


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Ian Walton / Getty Images

A rhinoceros in the Kruger National Park in South Africa in 2013.

Ian Walton / Getty Images

"They do not respond like the guys did 20 years ago by dropping their guns, raising their arms, and saying," Oh, sorry, you have me, he says. "These guys are fighting."

To combat rhino poaching, rangers have a myriad of sophisticated resources, ranging from thermal imaging cameras to planes. were introduced in South African national parks in 2012. For security reasons, the park service will not disclose the number of dog units currently exploited in the park system, According to the spokesman for South National Parks -Africans, Isaac Phaahla, these dogs are now the most important in the fight against poaching.Straaten, shown above with his dog, Lola, is the head dog trainer at Southern African Wildlife College.

David Fuchs


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Johan van Straaten, shown above with his dog, Lola, is the principal dog trainer at the Southern African Wildlife College.

David Fuchs

Some breeds are used for different tasks, says Johan van Straaten, director of K-9 College. Malinois, Labradors and Spaniels form the detection team, sniffing illicit materials – such as elephant tusks, rhinoceros horns and pangolins – during vehicle searches and apprehensions of poachers. The Doberman-Bloodhound mixers are the "online trackers", a specialized team that works with human manipulators to hunt down poachers in the park.

"Since we use dogs, guys can no longer hide from us," van Straaten says. Regardless of race, he says the most important qualification is that "dogs have their DNA to follow."

Since their beginnings in 2012, K-9 units have become an integral part of the counter-poaching of South Africa. operations, playing a role in 80 percent of poachers' apprehensions.

David Fuchs


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subtitle

David Fuchs

Since their beginnings in 2012, K-9 units have quickly become an integral part of South Africa's counter-poaching operations, playing a role in 80% of poachers' apprehensions.

David Fuchs

Of Kock, of all the teams, the real game changer was the dogs of "high speed," says Kock. It is a specialized unit of pack dogs trained to shoot poachers into the bush, while rangers follow from above by helicopter. De Kock says the team has been so effective in apprehending poachers that the college has had to take extra security measures to protect dogs from potential attacks from poachers.

Some reports cite dogs as contributing to the 24% drop in poaching. in Kruger National Park, typically a hot poaching spot because of its size – over 7500 square miles – and substantial population of rhinos. Others, however, point out how enhanced security measures in Kruger have simply coincided with increased poaching in more vulnerable parks in other provinces.

Despite the risks of work, young South Africans continue to become forest guards. At the Wildlife College run by De Kock, 700 candidates applied for 120 seats after a government program funded the training of rangers in 2011. Almost all student fees are paid by the government – and half of the rangers are former students. Sudan, the last white rhinoceros male of the North, dies "/>
         

Although guard posts provide jobs, much of the motivation of students stems from a commitment to conservation and the desire to protect rhinos

in Limpopo province just at the # 39, west of Kruger National Park. Seeing the northern white rhinos reach the brink of extinction earlier this year was what eventually pushed her to enlist, she told NPR. She fears that a similar fate will be reserved for South African rhinos if the counter-poaching efforts are inadequate.

"We will only stay in the image of the real animal," she said. "Our children, grandchildren – they must see him too."

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