Poaching
Poaching protected animals is murder and illegal. Hunting is a legal sport with limited restrictions, and only certain animals are allowed to be hunted. But when it comes to poaching, it is illegal and is generally animals that are killed are endangered ones.
One horrific example; in May of 2011 there was “the most brutal poaching incident” (wildlifeextra.com) in South Africa. A rhino was killed, and not simply with a gun, but with a pack of dogs, and a cliff. A mother and her young, were playing in the open grasslands, when suddenly they had company, they had dogs running at them ending the playing, and starting the chasing. Being a mother she made sure to get the threat away from her baby. She started running, getting as much distance between her attackers and her young as possible. What she did not realize was that she was not the one in control, and that her baby was not the target. She kept running until it was too late to turn around. (www.wildlifeextra.com)
The dogs chased her and they chased her right off a cliff. These were no wild dogs playing around, or looking for a meal; these dogs craved blood and were taught not to stop until they had gotten their target. After being run off the cliff the poachers went and got what they came for. They started by detaching the head from the body, and then cut apart the body, probably for the dogs to enjoy. And then of course, they went for the horn, the whole reason why they did this. Why did they kill an endangered animal, why did they make its baby an orphan? They did it for a few dollars that they would make from the black market selling its horn. (www.wildlifeextra.com)
They left the body there; well what was left of it after the dogs had gotten to it, and left with the horn. The baby rhino that had been left behind by its mother had been following its mother’s prints and scent trying to be reunited with its mother. The baby followed the tracks and scent until it ended, by the side of the cliff. The little rhino looked down and saw what was left. (www.wildlifeextra.com)
But not all poachers kill the animals, sometimes they do worse. They tranquillize them, take what they want, and then leave the maimed animals to fend for themselves. For example elephants and rhinos, whose tusks are very valuable for their ivory, are often a target. But these tusks aren’t only valuable for their ivory that poachers can sell, no. The tusks are valuable for the elephant and the rhino. They both use them in almost everything they do, and make it so they can survive. If those tusks are taken away and they are left alive, it is just a prolonged death, a painful one as well. They now have no way to protect themselves from predators and now it is harder for them to get food.
This is not living off the land; it is murder; it is illegal. It is one thing for people to go out and hunt deer that are destroying their land and that there are countless ones, even some would argue over populated. Or hunt animals to feed ones’ family. But it is another thing to kill animals that are endangered and that are so close to being gone forever, all for man’s greed.
When park rangers found the mother rhino they also found the baby rhino. The baby rhino that the poachers may not have been killed directly, but had been left defenseless. The park rangers walked up to the bloody mangled body that used to be a rhino and were taken back by the gore of it all. Until they saw the baby, which stopped them in their tracks, not from the danger that was there, but the sight of what the baby was doing. The baby was curled up next to its mother, not moving, just laying, mourning the death of its mother, the only thing it had ever known, and that it could rely on. (www.wildlifeextra.com)
Works Cited
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/south-africa-poaching.html#cr
One horrific example; in May of 2011 there was “the most brutal poaching incident” (wildlifeextra.com) in South Africa. A rhino was killed, and not simply with a gun, but with a pack of dogs, and a cliff. A mother and her young, were playing in the open grasslands, when suddenly they had company, they had dogs running at them ending the playing, and starting the chasing. Being a mother she made sure to get the threat away from her baby. She started running, getting as much distance between her attackers and her young as possible. What she did not realize was that she was not the one in control, and that her baby was not the target. She kept running until it was too late to turn around. (www.wildlifeextra.com)
The dogs chased her and they chased her right off a cliff. These were no wild dogs playing around, or looking for a meal; these dogs craved blood and were taught not to stop until they had gotten their target. After being run off the cliff the poachers went and got what they came for. They started by detaching the head from the body, and then cut apart the body, probably for the dogs to enjoy. And then of course, they went for the horn, the whole reason why they did this. Why did they kill an endangered animal, why did they make its baby an orphan? They did it for a few dollars that they would make from the black market selling its horn. (www.wildlifeextra.com)
They left the body there; well what was left of it after the dogs had gotten to it, and left with the horn. The baby rhino that had been left behind by its mother had been following its mother’s prints and scent trying to be reunited with its mother. The baby followed the tracks and scent until it ended, by the side of the cliff. The little rhino looked down and saw what was left. (www.wildlifeextra.com)
But not all poachers kill the animals, sometimes they do worse. They tranquillize them, take what they want, and then leave the maimed animals to fend for themselves. For example elephants and rhinos, whose tusks are very valuable for their ivory, are often a target. But these tusks aren’t only valuable for their ivory that poachers can sell, no. The tusks are valuable for the elephant and the rhino. They both use them in almost everything they do, and make it so they can survive. If those tusks are taken away and they are left alive, it is just a prolonged death, a painful one as well. They now have no way to protect themselves from predators and now it is harder for them to get food.
This is not living off the land; it is murder; it is illegal. It is one thing for people to go out and hunt deer that are destroying their land and that there are countless ones, even some would argue over populated. Or hunt animals to feed ones’ family. But it is another thing to kill animals that are endangered and that are so close to being gone forever, all for man’s greed.
When park rangers found the mother rhino they also found the baby rhino. The baby rhino that the poachers may not have been killed directly, but had been left defenseless. The park rangers walked up to the bloody mangled body that used to be a rhino and were taken back by the gore of it all. Until they saw the baby, which stopped them in their tracks, not from the danger that was there, but the sight of what the baby was doing. The baby was curled up next to its mother, not moving, just laying, mourning the death of its mother, the only thing it had ever known, and that it could rely on. (www.wildlifeextra.com)
Works Cited
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/south-africa-poaching.html#cr