The new Animal Planet 3 part miniseries, “Battleground: Rhino Wars” reveals the conflict between bloodthirsty poachers and one of South Africa’s anti-poaching units. To combat the ever-increasing rhino poaching epidemic, which is wiping out the rhino population, four U.S. Special Operations veterans have been recruited to prevent poachers from continuing this deadly destruction against these endangered species.
US Patriot outfitted these heroes with various uniforms and gear to help them pursue this very important mission. These “soldiers of extinction” are led by Craig “Saw,” team leader, Navy SEAL (fmr.), and includes Jeff “Biggs,” sniper, Navy SEAL (fmr.); Rob, intel, Navy SEAL (ret.); and “Oz,” medic, Green Beret.
Airdates: Thursday, March 7th at 9pm, Thursday, March 14th at 9pm, Thursday, March 21st at 9pm.
Tags: Animal Planets, US Patriot
146 Rhino killed so far!
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/08/poaching-pushing-south-african-rhino-towards-edge/
Thanks to these fine gentlemen and Animal Planet hopefully more people will be made aware of this issue.
However, 3 operators aren’t going to change the situation much.
A “military” solution may be to assign a professional force to guard rhino sanctuaries.
Corruption and a government with, um, “flexible and creative” policies and practices pretty much guarantees that the black rhino population is headed off the cliff. As much fun as it might be to chase poachers through the scrub, the solution is economics: when the tourism value of the rhino exceeds the black market value of rhino horn, when they finally become more profitable to all involved alive then dead, it may make for good TV, but let’s not kid ourselves. Like drug dealers, for every poacher taken out of operation, there’s a bunch more to take their place. And illegal trade in wildlife products, along with cultural resources, is a close second to drugs in illegal transactions and gross money globally.
Traffic.org is a good source for keeping current in global wildlife crimes.
Anything that raises awareness of the issue has to be a good thing. If some FMJ downrange has the added benefit of deterring even one would-be poacher, that’s a little extra time for the rhino, don’t you agree?
I would say the situation requires a triple-track approach toward the poacher and his community: Deterrence, economic realignment, and education.