How to fight the rhino horn poaching problem as well as other wildlife transgressions?

African problems need African solutions.
Rhino horn is destined for China and other countries that believe in magic potions.
People who believe in magic potions also believe in curses and protective forces.

A problem-solving meeting between top African Sangomas, global energy healers and ancestral advisers (People who can hear the voice of the ancestors) can be staged here in Cape Town. They can solve this problem using African magic. This meeting can be paid for with lotto funds.

A curse can be placed on those who use or remove rhino horn for self gain. A protective ring can be cast around our game reserves. If rhino and other African animal horns are cursed, it will loose its magic power.

However, the meeting should not only concern the curse of the horn but also discuss how traditional healers and sangomas can obtain their needed supplies for the use of their magic poaches without destroying our natural resources.

Nature parks can for instance allow natural healers access to plants as long as they help to maintain the local species and help to identify and regenerate problem areas. Alternatively living Sangoma pharmacies can be grown.

Even the sangomas who use human body parts can brainstorm ideas of how to obtain their specimens legally without causing pain or hardship to innocent victims.

Instead of using the sexual organs of virgins or babies to cure aids for instance they may agree to use cord blood or the blood of a placenta instead of killing a baby.
This does not have to mean that we approve such superstitious methods, but Africa has to evolve her own belief structures.

Denying people the right to practice the black magic art may only make the mootie more valuable when the practice is pushed underground. Most users care little how the animal part has been obtained or if the animal, or human, was live when it was removed. We can wash black magic by finding humane substitutes and the result may be that the cruelty of the past may disappear altogether when black magic turns gray.

African and traditional Chinese medical practices share many of the same principles.

Once the curse (protection) has been cast it can be announced via the Internet, Facebook and Twitter and Wallah! The rhino will have an invisible protective net.

Most Christians will frown at this post, and the suggestion of aiding and abetting black magic. I do not blame us, but we need to remember that the majority of people living in Africa are traditional believers. The spirit of Africa needs to be washed by her majority.

The difference between white and black magic on all levels is that the black magician uses his magic to empower himself or individuals (or his lower nature).
The white magician uses his magic for the good of the whole (The nation or the group) or his soul nature, without expecting self-gain.

Pain and animal or human sacrifice is no longer the way of the evolved, more sensitive, human but Africa needs to grow at her own pace. She shall do it through her own believe structures and not by adopting foreign religious doctrines, even if in the end all humanity may be destined for one religion when they recognize the different faces of the ONE GOD.

PHOTO ALBUM

Finding solutions to the rhino poaching problem

Poachers killed another rhino, this time in the Western Cape.
While criminals and syndicates have a stronger firepower than the police force, there is little concern from the side of the poachers. They know the game rangers and police will do their job but at the same time they, the police and rangers, fear the power of the poachers. The intervention by police only increases the adrenaline rush in the poachers. This little possibility of being caught only increases the value of the horn and my even be welcomed. Even the courts treat poachers very lightly.


Some of the game rangers themselves are informants for the poachers. Who would not offer the life of an animal in exchange for a few thousand rand extra?

It is time we employ a strength that can out match that of the syndicates. How can this be done?

1. Declare war against the poachers and employ the army in conjunction with the police force.
2. Implant satellite-tracking chips into the horns of a selected group of wild animals. Do not paint them and do not even notify the rangers which wildlife are being chipped. Chip some rhinos in all the camps. Let the horn lead the intelligence forces to the doorsteps of the syndicates. Do this throughout Africa. Some war torn African countries are trading horn for weapons.
3. Kill the demand. I shall blog about this in my next post. The solution is much simpler than we realize. Watch this space.

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BABOON EXTERMINATION AROUND TABLE MOUNTAIN

FIRST THEY KILLED BART AND NOW FRED

Another baboon died by the wisdom of the baboon caretaker squad in Cape Town, last week.
Even though this is happening during an election year and in a DA ruled province, Helen Zille is still the only politician who spoke out about the lack of attention the animals in nature are receiving from our conservation efforts. We will sacrifice their shelter, habitat and food source, to further for our emotional, indiscriminate fynbos recovery efforts.

We all know that the fynbos is being threatened with extinction and needs preservation, but so are many of our animal and insect species who were forced to seek shelter and habitat in an alien environment.

So if you love animals and nature the DA still deserves your vote.
(I am not siding with any party in particular, except for the one that supports the quality of all life, the poor as well as the defenseless. I will also side with the political party that will put his money where his mouth is and not in his/her own pockets)

1 I was just wondering if the conservation training covers animal behavior and psychology. Are they taught how to tune into nature and mentally get into the thought or survival patterns of the habitats that are threatening the perfect vision of co-habitation of animals and plants? Can anyone tell me?
2 What type of student chooses conservation as a career? Is it those who love nature or is it students who do not have the courage to tackle difficult subjects? In the past animals were voiceless victims, but thankfully in today’s society there are many nature lovers who are speaking up for our silent victims and are starting to use the Internet to fight their cause. Soon we will have to train conservation students who are sensitive to the life forms they control.
3 Do the conservation students learn all about laws and botanical names at the beginning of their curriculum, and if they are taught to tune into nature by observing any species, is the training offered at the end of their term? Will some students pass their degree without having had time to build that much needed quality to make holistic decisions? How many first year students have silently sat in nature and ask themselves the question: “What does this particular area need”, and then listen to their intuition for answers?

The baboon squad should have had the sensitivity and knowledge to come up with better solutions than killing the alpha males, who adopted the survival behavior of low class humans. It is so sad that experts, who have been employed to solve the baboon problem, could come up with no other solution than to kill them.

Whenever baboons evolve and adapt they are exterminated or locked I cages in some zoo. By taking out the alpha male every time, they leave behind the weaker ones to lead the troop (often into trouble). For animals to survive in this unfriendly environment, where people squeeze them out of their habitat, chop their shelter down, burn their food supply and take pot shots at them and commit acts of cruelty to deter them, we need the strong, intelligent ones to survive and guide the troop.


There have been lots of animal experiments done, internationally, on how to change the behavior of animals; they include, naming a few methods:
1 Shock treatment when animals behave unfavorable and reward them when they behave the right way.
2 The use of animal whisperers,
3 High frequency sound waves etc.
4 Booby traps in homes, bins and vehicles and other places of unsocial survival attempts by the baboons.
5 Pepper spraying of baboons that approaches vehicles and homes.
6 Supply food in a space that can also become a tourist attraction and provide the necessary funds to manage the existence of the species.
7 Set up trust funds or other initiatives to employ necessary international expert or humanitarian groups to train our conservationists.
(Sometimes we may need to be a bit cruel, in the beginning, to save the lives and existence of a troop of baboons.)

The nature of wild animals is to live in one area but move onto another more suitable habitat when the area becomes to overpopulated for the available food supply. Because the baboons can no longer split the troop and look for food somewhere else, they adapted by getting additional food by raiding the obstructive human habitat. This is a very clever adaptive behavior pattern.

We can prevent this by also being clever and provide alternative solutions.
With the right survival training, who knows, perhaps they will one day learn how to propagate and grow their own food in their protective habitats?


There is a lot we can experiment with and learn from the behavior of these animals and there is a lot they can learn from us if we use methods other than kill the clever ones.

They need our help and understanding not their execution and eventual extinction.


Rosalie - 6 April 2011

Walkies no longer fun

Taking doggy for a walk is no longer fun.

I sling my old camera bag, containing yesterday’s bread plastic, over my shoulder and off we go on our walkies.

For some reason my husband decided that it is my job to carry the dog-poop bag.

From the moment we leave home, my upper lip and my brow moves closer to each other.  My face just goes into a permanent screwed up mode.

I will only relax when the dog poops somewhere where I can cover it with sand, but no chance.

Since I started carrying the plastic bag, she seems to think it is her duty to poop on the best cut lawn in the most public place.

The dreaded moment arrives for me to unzip the little bag. Slip my hand into the bread plastic like a glove and pick up the warm soft substance from the lawn then carry the bag between my forefinger and thumb while my whole face goes into a screwed up spasm involving even my lower jaw.

There is only one waste paper basket on our walk – at the play park; so that is where it has to go.   I see many people throw their plastic dog poop bags into the storm water drains.   It will possibly wash up in the river or the beach, if it does not block the drains.

My husband said that I am a nurse, I should be used to carry poop, but this is different.  I ‘gril tot in my klein toontjie’

I guess I am just not a good poop carrier yet, nurse or te not!

How to give water to a tortoise

While some domestic tortoises learn to drink from a saucer, they enjoy a drink from a hose.
Aim the hose away from the tortoise, and not directly on the animal.

The water will run towards the tortoise and he will suck it up from the ground.
Make sure the tortoise does not get blinded by splashing mud.

In the wild, tortoises can supplement their fluid intake by eating succulents.
Baby tortoises need to have a drink soon after they hatch.

SYNOPSIS OF THE DRAFT OF THE 2nd BY-LAW FOR DOG OWNERSHIP.

SYNOPSIS OF THE DRAFT OF THE 2nd BY-LAW FOR DOG OWNERSHIP.


CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA.

People have only to 28 August to comment.

2, 3,

NUMBER OF DOGS ALLOWED: (Special permit needed for more)

-two dogs in or at a dwelling unit;
-three dogs, in or at a dwelling house;
-four dogs, to be kept in or at a large dwelling house;
-six dogs,, to be kept on an agricultural property;
-three dogs, to be kept on or at any other premises.



Dog registration re-introduced

5

NOT ALLOWED

-bitch on heat in any public street or public place;
- to urge any dog to attack,
- cause worry or frighten any person or animal or through negligence fail to prevent any dog from attacking,
worrying or frightening any person or animal, (except where necessary for SELF DEFENSE)
-any dog which causes damage to public property;
-not to remove any dog feces
-keep any dog which barks for more than six minutes in any hour or more than three minutes in any half hour.



DOG DISTURBANCES NOT ALLOWED:

-barking, yelping, howling or whining;
-charging any vehicle, animals, poultry, pigeons or persons
-causes a disturbance or nuisance to inhabitants of the neighbourhood

NOT ALLOWED IN PUBLIC PLACES:

-Dogs suffering from mange or any other infectious or contagious disease;
-ferocious, vicious or dangerous dogs (unless it is muzzled and held on a leash and under control)

DOGS MAY NOT
- trespass on private property;
- constitute a hazard to traffic using any public street;
- constitute a source of danger or injury to any person outside the premises on which such dog is kept;
- NOT ON A LEASH in any public street or public place except on a leash (unless the dog is in an area designated by the Council as a free running area).
- keep any dog which does not have on its collar or micro-chip a 1 name, 2 telephone number and 3 physical address or reference to a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals or registered animal welfare organization.

6

YOU MAY NOT

-provoke, harass or tease any dog.
-terrify or cause stress or fear to any dog with fireworks or by any other means.
-Have animal for the purposes of fighting any other animal.
-Owns, uses or controls any premises or place for the purpose or partly for the purpose of presenting animal fights.

PENALTY: a fine of R 20 000.00

7

DOG IMPOUNDED / DESTROYED WHEN
- is suffering from mange or any other infectious or contagious disease;
-constitutes a hazard to traffic using any public street;
- is at large and apparently without an owner;
- is found in any public place or public street where such a dog is, in the opinion of the authorised official, not on a leash or under proper control

NOT ALLOWED TO:

-Take any dog into custody for the purpose of having it impounded if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the dog is a female dog with un-weaned young, unless such dog and un-weaned young are taken into custody together.
-No person may free any dog which has been taken into custody,
-People can claim their dogs back at a fee and correction of the problem.
-kept at a pound for ten days .

8 (DUTIES OF A POUND MASTER)

THE POUND MAY:
- have any animal destroyed as contemplated in this By-Law and recover any expenses incurred in this regard from the owner

9

FENCING A PROPERTY
-No person shall keep a dog if his or her premises are not properly and adequately fenced.

10 RESCUE OF STRAY DOGS

-A person who rescues a stray dog shall report the date and time of the rescue and a description of the dog to the Council within twenty four hours.

11

-A DOG SHALL NOT BE A SOURCE OF DANGER TO:
-Council's employees entering upon such premises for the purpose of carrying out their duties
(unless a notice to the effect shall be displayed in a conspicuous place at each access point)

12

REMOVAL OF EXCREMENT IN PUBLIC PLACES.
-remove the excrement,
place it in a plastic or paper bag or wrapper and dispose of it in a receptacle provided for the deposit of litter or refuse, excluding a person who is assisted by a guide dog.
-No person shall walk a dog, other than a guide dog, in a public street, public place or public road, without carrying a sufficient number of plastic or paper bags or wrappers, within which to place the excrement of the dog, in the event of the dog defecating.

13 STERILISATION.

- No person, other than a person who has been granted permission by the Council to keep kennels, or the owner of a dog registered by the Kennel Union of South Africa, the Boxer Federation, the SA Sheepdog Association, the German Shepherd Dog Federation or SA Field Trials shall keep a dog, other than a sterilized dog, provided that a person in possession of an unsterilized dog on the date of promulgation of this By-Law, may keep such dog until it dies or is disposed of




TO READ THE FULL DRAFT - CLICK HERE WWW.CAPETOWN.GOV.CO.ZA

The daisies are early

The field behind the house is full of daisies.
I remember, in previous years, how I was amazed that the daisies knew when it was September 1, when they opened up for the season.
At this rate they will have finished their flowering by September this year.

backyard abattoirs

In South Africa, backyard abattoirs cause suffering for animals.
It is also very unhygienic.

Conditions that threaten the survival of tortoises in the wild

Keeping a tortoise as a pet

In South Africa a license is required to keep a tortoise on a domestic property. Tortoises are classified as wildlife, and will fall under the same laws.
In my opinion considering the state and treatment of our natural open spaces and the changing weather patterns, the survival of the species my very well in the future depend on backyard tortoise breeders.

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Although a tortoise is very hardy, they are very defenseless against unnatural conditions.

Situations that threaten tortoises in the wild:

• Changing weather patterns.
• Increasing incidences of field fires.
• Roads bordering conservation areas.
• Plans to develop open spaces in the future.
• 4x4 vehicles and bikes
• Floods

Maintenance of open spaces or conservation land like:

• Lawn mowing
• Artificial irrigation
• The use of industrial lawnmowers.
• Back burning and field fires.
• maintenance vehicles
• The use of insecticides, weed- and grass killers on conservation land.
• The total ignorance or disinterest of some conservation workers and managers.
• Absence or lack of wildlife awareness training of conservation workers and staff.
  

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If a survey is done one may find that the training of conservation workers consists of nearly entirely on how to use machinery and implements for maintaining conservation land without considering the life of the creatures on it.

The conservation training of staff may often be the responsibility of reserve managers who may lack in their duties or knowledge and require supervision themselves.

Sensitive workers are needed in conservation areas

Beach cleanup, along nature conservation areas, should be done under the supervision of our conservation department; and not by the parks department workers.
Contract workers are often employed to work in sensitive areas with no training regarding conservation. They are expected to be sensitive to the plants and animals, in conservation areas, and often left to their own devices.

Last year beach cleanup teams were operating while the Oystercatchers were rearing their chicks. The plovers and other beach dwellers were also not considered.
Luckily, these people were quite lazy and did little other than sunbathing.

The school children that were sent to collect rubbish along the beach during breeding season did more harm. They trampled over the sensitive area in groups.
Seaweed, that hosts a multitude of little animals that form part of the beach birds' diet, is being removed to tidy the beaches.

The preservation of indigenous animals are as important as plants. Their numbers are decreasing at an alarming rate.

We should consider that Plovers breed in the same area where the sea spews out the rubbish.
We should not wait until they hit the endangered list before we take action. Prevention is ever better than cure.

7-9-2008 Cool weather for spring

7-9-2008

Spring is in the air, in spite of the winter weather outside.

We saw lots of ducks with little ducklings swimming around in the flood-pools. We even saw a Moorhen with chicks.

The daisies are out on the field, but at Rietvlei, which is a wetlands reserve, there are hardly any daisies yet. Other indigenous flowers show a spectacular yellow carpet.

When we got back, after a short absence from home, today, we saw the ill fated Masked Weaver nest lying on the ground. The chicks are nowhere in sight. We hope they left the nest and Boytjie (male Weaver) broke the no-longer-needed nest down.

My Cape Garden 2-9 2008

Today the sun is shining but it is still cold. More rain has been forecasted and there is snow on the mountains.

Yesterday in spite of the cold wet weather conditions, a cape weaver also started building his nest among the many nests of the Masked Weaver. It is amazing that they tolerate each other. I thought “Boytjie” would be more territorial.

They build their nests differently.

This morning I do not see any activity from his half built nest.

Last year our Cape Weaver got killed.

This morning our cat came from the yard licking her chops. I hope she did not develop a taste for bush-meat again.

The South African Government approves the killing of Elephants.

Congo elephants killed as ivory demand jumps -group

Reuters South Africa - Johannesburg,

South Africa

... killed 14 elephants in as many days in Africa's oldest national park to meet rising Chinese demand for ivory, a conservation group said on Thursday. ...

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Wildlife Conservation: Elephant hunting resumes in South Africa

By Mike Hitchen(Mike Hitchen)

South Africa has lifted a 13-year ban on killing elephants, despite an outcry from conservationists and animal rights activists. The move was authorized earlier this year and took effect from Thursday. The government claims the move is ... (Photograph by Eddie Arpesella)

Experiencing Global Warming in Cape Town

I just watched the last half of a TV program on global warming this evening. Mention was made how animals are breeding out of season and therefore not synchronously with their food supply.

At home, in Cape Town, we were feeding the birds brown bread and apples in addition to the normal birdseed. The reason for us doing this was that so many of the trees in our road became too big and people were chopping them down. Another reason was that someone, in the area, decided to supplement his income by buying a chain saw and offered to chop people’s trees down for them. To compound this problem, the government decided to remove all the alien vegetation. Nearly all the trees planted in Cape Town over the last three hundred years, can be considered as alien. In fact since a large part of the city has been reclaimed from the sea, all the trees in that part can be considered alien.

When I was a child we did not have to spray our trees for fruit fly. Today if one does not spray a layer of poison over our fruit trees, we will not have any to pick.

Cockroaches were unheard of in Cape Town, but over the last few years they are becoming regular visitors in our homes. This year is the first year that I noticed small ones. That means that weather conditions are warm enough for them to breed in Cape homes.

I never heard of water pollution. I never considered algae as a problem. I used to think of it as fish food. A few years ago we filled our fishpond because the water became poisoned. The fish died and recovered when we changed the water. We needed to replenish the fishpond water more and more often until we decided to fill the pond with sand.

Last year tons of fish died at Rietvlei, Cape because of water pollution and algae growth. The warming of the ground around the dams due to the removal of all the trees may also have something to do with it. The birds that used to breed there had to move to domestic gardens and other unsafe breeding places.

We are replacing more and more nature areas with urban development.

Wild animals clash with townships that spring up on the borders of game parks. It is always the animals that have to go.

We have seen so many more deadly diseases among animals and people in the last years. In fact since about 1985 the number of deadly diseases affecting humanity has escalated at an alarming rate. That is in the last 12 years.

I can talk about this forever. We have other problems that feed global warming in Africa. Poverty, job shortages, wars and political instability are just a few.

Are we in a global crisis situation in Africa?

The only ones, who answer no to that question, are illiterates and skeptics who are too young to have experienced global change.

Lion killers plead to the South African government

Lion hunters in Africa should change their guns for cameras. Rather put a beautiful photograph of a lion shot, in the wild, by camera on your wall than the stuffed head of one that was bread in captivity and lived in over crowded conditions all it's life.

It is a pity that government decisions crumble under psychological attack.

Rich tourists want to come and kill our lions for a hunting experience and now South African game farmers are putting pressure on the government to allow them to do so.

The government wants lions to have a life of two years in freedom in the wild before allowing them to be killed. Some heartless game farmers want to breed lions and rear lions in captivity, in mostly overcrowded and cruel conditions for one reason only, and that is to be shot by tourists who like killing animals for sport.

The type of tourist who wants to visit South Africa to kill our lions, the symbol for Africa, is the type that we can do without. They are rich individuals who have their greedy eyes on destroying our heritage. Animals have rights too, and we need to protect them, not exploit the few who are left.

Job losses' are always an emotional argument. It is used every time someone wants to destroy or exploit our natural heritage for profit.

Before any farmer comes to the table to argument their case for lion hunting, they should bring their taxation documents to prove how much South Africa benefits from the killing of lions. And also have their BEE status in order.

If they feel that they do not have enough money to change their concerns to that of one where tourists can come and view the African big five, then perhaps they can approach some of our BEE partners to help them financially. There must be BEE millionaires out there who would like to partner a concern who want to preserve our wildlife. I am sure running a game farm where education and service is the main element, is just as much job friendly.

People who kill animals for pleasure deserve to go bankrupt. They are scum.

Overseas visitors who visit game farms should insist that the farms they visit does not partake in canned lion hunting.