Stop poaching — Open letter
Dear people and poachers of the world.
Some things leave us dumbstruck.
One of them is that people are able to kill elephants the size of trucks, tigers with aggression like a tornado or rhinos charging at you the speed of a jet plane. The one word that we are left with is “wow.” But for all there speed, power and size they are no match to a poacher’s rifle. If they were to become extinct the effects on nature would be catastrophic. For 9 years IAPF has fought this slaughter of precious animals in order to save the nature and our future.
Over time as the world gets more modern so does poaching, many poachers use night vision equipment, tranquilisers and silencers avoiding anti-poachers such as ourselves. The way it is carried out is sophisticated and organised so that they are not able to get caught. People with power such as politicians push away this problem and that is why this problem keeps on repeating. The reason people enter poaching is that they are able to get a great deal of profit to be able to pay for their family and themselves. We work to tackle poaching in Australia, USA and areas within Africa. Across Africa, anti-poachers have not changed over the decades until now. Before smaller groups of undertrained and poorly equipped soldiers/rangers are sent out to fend off poachers with no proper knowledge on the subject leading them into deadly situations. Modern-day anti-poachers have become more aware of the situations and are using military gadgets and tactics to overcome poachers. Anti-poaching is only a part of the solution to be successful we work with groups against deforestation and we work alongside partners who specialise in biodiversity (iapf).
Rare species of animals such as elephants are a symbol of wealth and power within many regions of the world. A lot of the animals killed are used in traditional Asian medicine, for example, the Tiger. The tiger is labelled as a critically endangered species, as it is used in Chinese medicine often due to the tiger’s strength and its mythical power. Chinese culture believes that the tiger has medicinal qualities which helps cure life-threatening diseases and replenish the body’s essential energy (tigersincrisis). However, this is not mainly true science studies show that modern medicine is much more effective and traditional medicine is mainly driven off belief. Poaching within regions of Asia has rocketed, due to the increased wealth in Asia and a higher demand for exotic animals for traditional medicine. Back in 2010 333 rhinos were illegally killed. In order to help stop the selling of rhino horns in the black market a startup named ambient takes a different approach. His plan is to 3D print fake Rhino h0rns and wants to flood the market with them so when people are buying a horn they won’t be able to tell if they are real or fake reducing the amount sold. Then not being able to give the poachers a steady income stopping them from killing rhinos and possibly other species of endangered animals.
After all these arguments why would a person even think of poaching? In African rural areas, the main reason why people enter poaching is the lack of employment opportunities and little potential to be in the agriculture business. Poorer people rely on the natural resources that surround them for their survival and generate cash from selling some of the rarer species of animals live close by. Body parts of an animal are also a demand in the black, market for traditional medicine. Within poaching, there are three jobs the poacher, the boss of the poacher and the client. The most dangerous is the boss of the poacher as they could have many poachers working for them. These bosses are usually heads of big crime organizations and are very hard to catch as they are very agile. The poachers do not really know what they are getting themselves into as they do not have the proper education about these animals.
In order to save elephants and rhinos, we need to give them large pieces of land that are not disturbed from farms, mines and poaching. In some places, we are really struggling to maintain the population of some animals but in other, the numbers are increasing on our side. With now our skilled anti-poachers and providing them with the resources they require they have been able to secure wildlife occupying remote areas alive. We hope to increase the number of tigers in the wild drastically. Although there is a ban on tigers being sold for traditional medicine the black market is still booming with tiger based products. Tigers have lost 95% if their habitat due to deforestation. Both poaching and deforestation have the potential to destroy all the progress we have made to protect endangered species. But we are determined to use our knowledge and skill to ensure that, that does not happen.
To the world do you believe a crime like poaching shall continue? Do you think that we have to stand by while people are driving species to extinction? The answer is simply no. Everyone has the power to make a difference however big or small it may be. You could donate, spread the awareness or collaborate with IAPF or teams like us. We need to increase the numbers of animals in the wild and help educate poachers in order for them to get a better and safer life. With this knowledge, I hope you will do something about this in order to prevent poaching in the future.
Sincerely,
The International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF)
