Where do we draw the line for rhino poaching?

Posted on 29 September 2010

A few of the digital team went to Parliament on Rhino Day to raise awareness about the shocking increse in rhino horn poaching recently. African Renaissance decided to help the WWF promote their rhino campaign by setting up ‘crime scenes’ all over Cape Town. Michael Raimondo from African Renaissance tells us how they went about it:

CSI – Cape Town’s “Rhino Patrol” hits the streets

South Africa is in the midst of a terrestrial war over rhino horn poaching, a war that has spiked in recent years to frightening heights. This year alone, rhino deaths from poaching have jumped to 210 recorded incidents, a considerable spike from only 13 recorded incidents in 2007. This is not simply a South African problem, but affects almost every country in Southern Africa. In certain conflict zones in Central Africa, areas considered too dangerous to access, there are subspecies of rhino thought to already be extinct, due to a general lack of infrastructure and monitoring.

If we do not all work together in an effort to curb the rate of illegal trafficking related deaths, many of our domestic subspecies, such as the white and black rhino, could meet this same fate.

As passionate conservationists, African Renaissance decided to assist the WWF in bringing attention to this critical problem, by executing a CSI-style guerrilla awareness campaign to inform the public about how many rhinos have been murdered, this year alone. So to celebrate Rhino Day in South Africa, we donned white overalls, armed with stencils, chalk, latex gloves and hazard tape, and hit the streets, setting up “crime scenes” all over the city, from the Sea Point Promenade to Parliament, schools, museums, tourist attractions, local news stations and everywhere else in between. Always mindful of the authorities, we cruised around the Mother City installing these “˜rhinocide’ crime scenes where ever we could. Reactions from the public were incredibly supportive, with people from all over coming up to us with words of encouragement.

For more information visit www.africanrenaissance.co.za

Click here to view their video.






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