Black Rhinos Come Back to Luangwa Vallley

Black Rhinos {"rhinos"} were declared extinct in Zambia at the turn of the last century as a result of constant poaching. But Diceros bicornisis being reintroduced to the North Luangwa National Park in a enormous effort to re-establish a sustainable population in the Luangwa Valley.  Zambia had the third largest rhino population in the world until the 1980s.  The project is a joint one between the Frankfurt Zoological Society and the Zambian Wildlife Authority which began in 2001. Twenty rhinos have been established in the national park since then.
One of the reasons the project is possible is because poaching has been put under control in North Luangwa. Some conservationists may say poaching is reduced there due in part to the ground breaking efforts of an American couple, Mark and Delia Owens. Others might say poaching was controlled in spite of the American biologists' involvement in what amounted to a private war. The Owenses lived in North Luangwa until 1996 when their North Luangwa Conservation Project was seized by the government of Zambia. The seizure was part of an investigation into a homicide captured on tape by an ABC video crew making a documentary on the activities of Mark Owens and the rangers he trained and equipped to stop devastating poaching in the park.

An article by Jeffrey Goldberg in the New Yorker magazine describes the furor caused by what Zambian officials called an unjustified homicide during a anti-poaching patrol of an unidentified man alleged to be a poacher. The article is critical of the Owenses for being too zealous, but it makes clear the biologists were selflessly dedicated to protecting the park's wildlife, especially it's elephants. One safari guide who knew Mark Owens in Zambia said Mark's experiences in the bush hardened him: "He was very angry with poaching. He loves the elephants, so all the killing made him very upset." The Owenses were well funded--the Frankfurt Zoological Society was their main supporter--and they used the money to purchase a Cessna airplane, a Bell helicopter, and trucks to transport "Owen's scouts" on "village sweeps" conducted at night. Some sixty game scouts were in their direct employ according to reports. During the sweeps, scouts would descend on local villages looking for poachers. Suspects were often beaten. Homes were disrupted and frightened villagers interrogated by armed men. These raids appear to have violated Zambian law which requires a warrant for a house search. In one raid in August 1993, according to Mark Owens in a funding proposal to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, more than fifty firearms were confiscated.

Anyone familiar with the state of wildlife conservation in Africa knows that protecting wildlife from poaching is dangerous work. The poachers are not just hungry villagers armed with old rifles and shotguns supplementing their starvation diets with meat. Nowadays they are gangs armed with automatic weapons engaged in a criminal enterprise of international scope. Local officials are often helpless to stop them, as the dire situation in the Congo demonstrates. Rangers must be ready to defend themselves with equal force, and to protect wildlife in certain desperate situations, rangers must be ready to shoot poachers on sight. If Africa's irreplaceable wildlife is to survive human depredation, then law enforcement must be taken to a more sophisticated, coordinated level*. Mark and Delia Owens now live in the US, perhaps never to return to the savannas they fought hard to protect. But black rhinos are returning back to North Luangwa National Park.
*David Higgins, manager of the INTERPOL Environmental Crime Programme, said, "The gorillas are yet another victim of the contempt shown by organized criminal gangs for national and international laws aimed at defending wildlife. The law enforcement response must be internationally co-coordinated, strong and united, and INTERPOL is uniquely placed to facilitate this."

[photo, top: a wild elephant walks through a safari lodge in South Luwanga National Park.  The lodge was unwittingly built atop a traditional elephant path to favorite mango trees, so the elephants insist on walking through reception.  No injuries have been reported by hotel staff, and no elephants have attempted to register. UK Telegraph.]