Dillish – Join her for a Road Trip! #MyNamibiaHoliday
October 3, 2014Lüderitz Speed Challenge | Let the Race Begin | 2014
October 9, 2014Text Jana-Mari Smith | PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF Ronel Toll & Imogen Pretorius, both of whom participated in the Elephant and Rhino march
Demonstrators in 136 cities and towns across six continents joined the Global March for Elephants and Rhinos – Namibians joined the global protest
FACT: Since 2012, and up to September 2014, poachers have killed at least 20 rhinos in Namibia. The majority, 14, were killed in 2014 – the year that Namibia’s reputation as a rhino safe haven took a severe knock. The poached rhino exclude the 14 rhino horns discovered in a suitcase belonging to three Chinese nationals earlier this year at Namibia’s international airport. (Source: http://www.namibiansun.com/tourism/116-elephant-10-rhino-poached-2012.65698)
FACT: At least 149 elephants were killed by poachers since 2012 (up to September 2014). This excludes the confiscation of more than 200 elephant tusks from poachers within Namibai’s borders since 2005. More than 105 poachers have been arrested since 2005, according to official records. (Source: http://www.namibiansun.com/tourism/116-elephant-10-rhino-poached-2012.65698)
FACT: An Elephant is killed once every 15 minutes for ivory. A Rhino is slaughtered once every 9-11 hours for Rhino Horn!
More than 200 Namibians, from young to old, joined thousands of citizens across the world on Saturday, as they took to the streets in Swakopmund to raise awareness and protest the increasing crisis of rhino and elephant poaching globally.
The countdown to their extinction has begun – March for Elephants and Rhinos International
Residents in 136 cities and towns spread around the world joined the protest march, dubbed the Global March for Elephants and Rhinos, in an effort to focus attention on the dire threats faced by rhinos and elephants globally.
In Namibia, incidents of elephant and rhino poaching have increased dramatically over the past few years. In particular, 2014 has been a tough year for rhinos here.
More than 14 carcasses, most of them of black rhino located in their free-roaming stronghold int he north-west of the country, have been discovered. No arrests have been made there.
A positive notch on the police crime post is the arrest of three Chinese nationals at the international airport earlier this year, whose suitcases were stuffed with 14 rhino horns and a leopard skin. To date, the Chinese men remain behind bars, with bail denied by the courts.
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