Born With a Horn to Die For: The Rhino's Dilemma

“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.” 

– Theodore Roosevelt 

The Rhinoceros is an odd-looking beast, a seemingly pre-historic phenomenon that lumbers contentedly through life in its leathery suit of wrinkled armour. It seems entirely plausible that these incredible animals have time-travelled from eons ago, walking the earth today as mere visitors from an ancient era. 

There is a placid air of relaxed confidence about the Rhino, a contented beauty in the way that their creased skin is mottled by the shadows of thorn trees, their heavy legs kicking up clouds of cinnamon-coloured dust. It as though they feel utterly comfortable within their bulky mass of grey, assured that their sheer enormity and imposing horns are protection enough from all manner of predators. How misplaced that confidence has proven to be. 

Man, that super-predator of incomparable cruelty, has proven the Rhino wrong. They are not infallible. The statuesque horns that the Rhinoceros employs as a means of protection against the threats occurring in nature are the very cause of its current vulnerability and exploitation – a grotesque irony.

Ruthlessly pursued and brutally slayed due to the insatiable greed that underscores modern society, the Rhino is but another victim on a staggering list of creatures teetering on the brink of obliteration. Our short-sighted, ravenous lust for wealth is causing us to rapidly and irreversibly bankrupt our planet of its beauty.

The statistics stand before us, shivering nakedly, exposed in their black and white revelation of a stark reality: Rhino poaching is on the rise, and rapidly so. In 2010, 333 Rhinos were killed. In 2011, 448. By the end of 2012, a total of 668 of these majestic symbols of Africa were slaughtered, at an average loss of nearly two Rhinos a day. We are but midway through the first month of 2013, and yet 5 Rhinos have already been deprived of the opportunity to live. An estimated 1654 Rhinos have been permanently removed from this earth since 2008, leaving only bloodied carcasses behind to remind us of our callous disregard for life.

Worryingly, it is widely held that these statistics may be an inaccurate representation of the true scale of the carnage, and similarly, population estimations are woefully out of date. As of 2010, South Africa had the privilege of offering a refuge to 18, 700 White Rhinos and 1900 Black Rhinos, yet the depths to which these numbers may have plummeted subsequently remains an uncomfortable unknown.

Despite its seemingly Jurassic appearance, all known facts would indicate that the Rhino is not a time-travelling dinosaur – it is a permanent resident of the here and now, and does not have the luxury of venturing back to a past where it was safe. It is our responsibility to ensure that the future which awaits it, and us, is a significant improvement on the present, lest it becomes as extinct as the ancient creatures it resembles.

And yet, why should we care? You may ask.
Does it really matter? You may wonder.
Will the world stop revolving, will the sun cease shining, will the stars plummet from the heavens should every last rhino vanish forever?

Of course not. You, your life, will continue unscathed. You will still have bills to pay, dogs to walk, jobs to do, children to feed, whether the Rhino lives to see another decade or not. So, why should you care?

You should care because you are a custodian and citizen of a planet that is like a shimmering ball of iridescent lights. Each plant, each animal, every organism that exists upon this earth is one of these lights, a glorious twinkle in a collective twinkling. Slowly but surely we are extinguishing these glowing embodiments of life, one by one, spark by spark, thereby dimming our world and robbing it of its lustre. At some point, we will be plunged into a darkness from which we cannot recover, dulled into a lifeless shadow from which we will never emerge.

You should care, because it is on your conscience – you know, you are empowered to make a choice. In this age of information, your complacence is a wilful decision, an informed apathy, you can no longer cling to the excuse that your inaction is an innocent oversight. Will you turn a blind eye as one more light is snuffed forever, or will you do what you can to ensure that it glows brightly and beautifully for many years to come? The Rhino awaits your answer. 

There are numerous websites that may be consulted in order to better understand the cause of the inordinate rise in poaching of the Rhino in recent times, and to engage in repetition of these facts here seems redundant. There are arguments and counter-arguments as to what would be the most feasible way to ensure their protection, all of which make for thought-provoking reading. I will post a list below of good resources to consult.

• http://wessa.org.za/get-involved/rhino-initiative/background-to-rhino-poaching.htm
• http://www.rhino-economics.com/common-myths/
• http://www.stoprhinopoaching.com/default.aspx
• http://www.environment.gov.za/?q=content/molewa_updates_southafricans_rhinosituation_measures 

So what can you do now that your conscience has been stirred? There are numerous organisations desperate for support and there various means by which you can help. I have endeavoured to compile a list of reputable and effectual groups, given the slew of ‘conservation initiatives’ that may or may not actually do anything, and the following are well-respected protectors of the Rhino:

• Project Rhino KZN (http://www.projectrhinokzn.org/), 
• Endangered Wildlife Trust (http://www.ewt.org.za/), 
• The Forever Wild Rhino Protection Initiative (http://www.wildernessfoundation.co.za/index.php?option=com_projects&view=project&id=20%3Aforever-wild-save-the-rhino&Itemid=3) 
• The Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (http://wessa.org.za/get-involved/rhino-initiative.htm) 

For the thrill-seeking among us, you can show your support for this horned beauty by leaping out of an aeroplane (https://www.facebook.com/skydiveforrhinos) and South African residents may festoon their cars with a jaunty, bright red rhinose (http://rhinoseday.com/the-rhinose/). I am also currently working on a range of gift cards that will raise funds for all of the aforementioned charities, so keep your peepers peeled.

I am not an advocate for guilt or negativity, which is why you will not find a single photo of a grotesquely hacked rhino in this post. I feel we each have a choice, and can elect to appease our own sense of justice accordingly, without the aid of appalling visuals to spur us on.

I believe in cherishing and protecting this species, and all creatures, purely because it is a privilege to live alongside them on this spectacular earth. That is reason enough for me. I will honour their beauty, not exploit their suffering by eliciting shock-responses by photos of their abuse – there are ample places where these images can be viewed, I do not feel the need to do so here.

I have consciously elected to depict the Rhino as they should be, now and for all time to come, to remind us of what exquisite wildness we are trying to retain. As Helen Keller said so many years ago, although the world is full of suffering, it also full of the overcoming thereof – it is this belief that I share, and this optimism that I seek to promote.