Rhino Poaching in South Africa- my thoughts on the mid-year poaching stats

The Department of Forestry Fisheries and Environmental Affairs, led by our newly appointed Minister George, recently released the rhino poaching statistics for 01 January to 30 June 2024. 

Those of you who have followed my work for a while, know that my main passion is rhino conservation and as such I keep a very close eye on poaching stats.

First, the overall rhino poaching numbers have declined by only 2, 229 compared to 231 during the same period in 2023. Although this is some progress, it is not great, and certainly not something to jump up and down and celebrate about. I have read many articles referring to the massive decrease in poaching, however I believe these to be misguiding.

The official report, which you can read for yourself here, makes pension of how the numbers of poaching incidents have significantly reduced in May and June, 21 and 22 respectively (May and June of 2023 were recorded at 42 and
34). Any decrease is better than no decrease, of course, however, it should not confuse us to think the situation has much improved. I personally believe that these numbers are specifically quoted, as they also align with the months that the new minister has been in office. These numbers could make some people believe that the minister's new policies and work have already affected and helped reduce the poaching numbers, which is not in fact the case, and any new changes will take time to implement and see results. 

Something that did stand out to me in this year's report, was the number of arrests and convictions. There were 60 arrests (compared to last year's measly 31 arrests). Not only have the arrests nearly doubled, but most of them have resulted in long sentences of at least 20 years in prison or even some even longer. 

I am also pleased to see them mention the introduction of their Integrity Policy which includes polygraphing and better training and screening of rangers to help prevent corruption becoming unloyal and turning to a life of poaching using the inside information they gain as a ranger. 

At the end of 2023, South Africa reported a total of 16,056 rhinos, including 2,065 black rhinos and 13,991 white rhinos. These numbers represent an increase from the figures at the end of 2021, which saw 2,056 black rhinos and 12,968 white rhinos in the country. This means that South Africa had 1,032 more rhinos in 2023 than in 2021, despite incidents of poaching in 2022 and 2023. The percentages of rhinos poached were 2.9% and 3.2% in 2022 and 2023, respectively. While the goa
l is to eliminate poaching entirely, it's worth noting that the poaching rates are still below the 3.5% birth threshold for rhinos.

It is important to acknowledge all the hard work of the rangers, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judicial system officials and judges. Without them, rhino poaching would be even worse. However we also need to acknowledge that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, and a lot of corruption and egos that need to be eliminated from the system for South Africa to reach the ultimate goal of 0 rhinos poached (it is possible as Kenya hasn't had a single poaching incident in 5 years, and even our neighbours Namibia, have had less than 100 for the past couple yeas combined so it definitely is possible). 

The above points are just my opinions based on the numbers found in the media release by the DFFE, however, if you have other thoughts or comments, I would love to hear them so please comment them down below on this post.