Zimbabwe dehorns Rhinocerus to deter poachers

What is a Rhino without a horn or an elephant without its tasks? I caught myself asking this question after reading of Zimbabwe's plans to de-horn the Rhinos and elephants before poachers get to them. "We want poachers to know that if they kill any rhino in Zimbabwe, they will not find any horns. We are keeping them all in highly secured places for our future generations," Henry Madzikanda, chief ecologist for Zimbabwe's Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, told the local Herald newspaper

I am not a conservationist to know the latest strategies of safeguarding animals, but my instincts tell me there is something untoward about the whole idea of de-horning these animals to save them. It seems like these animals are really in a pickle- whether it is the poachers or the government, either way they lose their horns. I thought these horns were used for protection and so am wondering how the rhinos are going to protect themselves.

Is interesting that while the collective population decline of Rhinos in more recent years has been caused by the poaching of rhino for their horn, the international ban prohibiting horn trading in 1976 actually contributed to massive prices increases in horn during the 1970s and 1980s, which subsequently increased the incentive to poach rhino, in turn leading to accelerated declines in rhino numbers. So the protection only helped the government by creating extra revenue sources for their conservation efforts.

Humans. We go into a quiet place, mess it up, and then try to find strategies to bring it back to its natural form. Had we just left the Rhinos and not encroached on their territory, I think they would be fine. If I was an elephant or a Rhino, this would be the time to protest or even go crazy on those national parks rangers.

But, the more I think about it, I feel that this inability to coexist with animals, is not only un-African, but is part of why the whole country is losing its mind.
Whatever happened to the days when our ancestors used to revere and protect these animals? We even have clan names like Ndhlovu (meaning elephant)to show the importance of these animals.

But, this whole domination and destruction of nature may very well be the reason we find ourselves so poor and unable to provide for ourselves that we have to rely on AID from the West. Sometimes I even think that these animals are better off because they still had that ability to defend and provide for themselves in their environment. And now we are taking it away from them.

What is next- statistics on Rhinos who need AID and the World Bank because they are so incapable of meeting their own needs? The best way to protect these animals is to leave them the hack alone. They do not want this economic driven pseudo-protection. I mean, what do the rhinos get in return for their horns? We Africans are losing our important values, which is partly why we find ourselves in so many problems today. There is so much our ancestors learned from animals about life and we have shut all that knowledge in pursuit of economic prosperity. And to think that we have nothing to show for this prosperity that has led us to destroy our lands, is so sad.

But, I got an idea. How about we give these Rhinos a medal of Patriotism and may be a purple heart for showing such bravery and putting themselves in harm's way to defend the human race against, shoot, the human race? Everything is becoming so absurd!