African Wildlife: A Sneak Peek into the Endangerment and Conservation Story
By Gargi Bagchi, Managing Editor- The African Gazette Africa! The very name conjures up the enchantment and romance of a marvelous land replete with intriguing animals, natural wonders and game parks. As much as this multifaceted tourist destination with its abundance of flora and fauna is synonymous with its famous Big 5, in the same breath sadly it also houses a few endangered animals.
Animals existing threats and endangerment – a closer look
Apart from natural disasters and changes in environment like global warming that adversely affect animal life, human involvement is a major factor behind the risk of endangerment and extinction. With widespread deforestation for agriculture, animals lose their natural habitat leaving them without a hunting or breeding ground and a place for survival.
According to the Wildlife ACT Conservation and Research, the greatest challenge the organization faces in its efforts towards conservation of animals include fragmentation and ongoing loss of natural habitats, poaching and poisoning for collecting body parts. Another difficulty includes contact with domestic animals with diseases living outside protected areas.
The organization’s study revealed that the causes of threat to African wild dogs are mainly human encroachment, road accidents, accidental killings through wire snares put up by bush meat hunters and conflict with game farmers and livestock.
There are eight species of pangolins living in Africa and Asia, which are persistently hunted for their scales that are valued for medicinal properties. The four species of pangolins that live in Africa – Temminck’s Ground pangolin, Giant Ground pangolin, White-bellied pangolin and black-bellied pangolin are highly endangered due to poaching.
The growing demand for rhino horn for manufacturing herbal remedies and medicines primarily in Vietnam and China has led to huge rhino poaching and illegal hunting driven by global criminal associations. Rhino poaching has become almost a national calamity in South Africa and the black rhino has been marked critically endangered by the IUCN. More than a century back, the African Savannahs were crowded with millions of black and white rhinos. Rhino populations had seen a staggering decline by 98% during the period 1960-1995. The figures of late has certainly shown a drop in poaching, yet threat remains considerably high and efforts are on towards regular implementation of protective measures- especially in Kruger National Park in South Africa. Last year (2020) South Africa saw 394 rhino poaching incidents.
Thanks to international ban on rhino horn trade, some population of African rhino are now stable or on the rise. However, majority of continent’s existing rhinos are concentrated in only four countries – Kenya, Zimbabwe, Namibia and the highest in South Africa.
Similarly, the effects of incessant and unregulated trophy hunting along with illegal killings of leopards have dwindled their numbers to quite a great extent.
Snare hunting and conversion of natural habitat of cheetahs into farmlands have been responsible for their rapid disappearance.
Addax – a type of antelope is amongst the critically endangered species to be found in Niger and Chad. These animals with their inherent slow movements become easy victims of hunters with modern weapons in vehicles. Environmental factors like droughts are also responsible for their declining numbers. Only about a hundred of them can be found in the wild and initiatives for reintroduction efforts in Chad and Morocco are ongoing.
The poaching scene during pandemic
According to a BBC news report, lockdowns have caused restrictions in mobility of the poachers and rhino horn smugglers leading to a comparative decline in rhino poaching during this period. However, a decline in no way indicates a complete halt and the fact remains – poaching still is a reality and there are other factors during the pandemic, which have contributed to such incidences as evident from different reports.
With the drop in tourism revenue in the African National Parks and wildlife reserves during the coronavirus crisis, poachers have been encroaching on wildlife habitats killing both black and white varieties of rhinos and elephants.
The World Wildlife Fund conservationist group also says that incidents of illegal bush meat hunting have been on the rise during the pandemic due to increase in poverty and patrol reductions. Since Covid-19 lockdown, at least nine rhinos were killed in South Africa’s North West province and in Botswana, six rhinos were poached.
The poachers in Botswana are generally from Zambia and Namibia and the Botswana government has promised to fight the poachers by putting an army in place for protection of the animals. Rhino slaughtering for trading their horns also saw a climb up in Namibia – the home to black rhinos, according to animal rights activists.
A glimmer of hope
Recently, in May 2021 there has been a development initiated by the researchers of University of Witwatersrand, South Africa in the field of anti-poaching methodologies. The researchers of the Rhisotope project have established that rhino poaching could be curbed through an optimum introduction of radioactive isotopes into the rhino thorns, thereby encouraging higher detection chances during crossing international borders by radiation monitors and putting a stop to illegal trade.
According to Lonely Planet, Rwanda’s Akagera National Park continued paying salary to the staff involved in rhino monitoring efforts during the pandemic. This was done to encourage continuity of the work of the park rangers in protecting the borders. However, the strain felt due to interrupted tourism has been undeniable. Insufficient funds to purchase equipment essential for rhino monitoring purposes, disruption in workers payments have struck a blow in rhino conservation efforts. Return of tourists after the economy opens would probably help in a big way to cover the expenses for animal conservation.
There are several organizations and global charities in Africa and in the world relentlessly helping endangered animals to live and thrive. They include Tikki Hywood Foundation, which focuses on pangolin conservation, African Wildlife Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, International Anti-Poaching Foundation, and International Union for Conservation of Nature to name a few. The common motto of all comprise conservation efforts to protect African wildlife from extinction, conservation of the natural habitats and empowering the locals through environmentally friendly educational resources.
How can we do our bit?
For bringing about a change and supporting wildlife, our collective efforts as citizens are of paramount importance, in addition to the contribution of the different organizations and charity establishments. We can always offer our services as a volunteer to any of the nature reserves, wild life parks and centers around us for a conservation project.
Options are aplenty in the wildlife/animal care domain like taking part in field research, participating in veterinary services or we could offer support through donations to animal charity organizations. We should take time to study and gain insights into different information available on endangered animals in Africa, spread the knowledge and inspire others. Africa lacks conservation funding and the covid-19 crisis has exacerbated the situation. Joining fundraising events for African endangered animals can help too.
The pandemic crisis is definitely a big blow to Africa’s conservation efforts –any entity singly isn’t enough to deal with the aftermath; the governments of Africa, the foreign community, conservation practitioners and donors must join hands and collaboratively adopt strategies that could mitigate the negative impacts of wildlife endangerment.
Gargi – Currently Managing Editor of The African Gazette, she has been an independent content creator, researcher and editing professional. With 12+ years of experience across diverse writing genres, Gargi comes with an exposure of working with a multitude of global clients in the digital space. She has a penchant for reading and researching on new topics, and enjoys listening to music and traveling. She can be contacted through Email or Linkedin
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