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Rhino poaching remains a challenge in SA and Africa

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World Rhino Day

As the international community marks World Rhino Day on Friday, South Africa and other parts of the African continent are still facing the challenge of rhino poaching. The International Rhino Foundation says poachers have shifted their focus from the larger rhino populations to smaller, and possibly more susceptible ones. In South Africa, poachers are focusing on smaller areas, like the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve, which has borne the brunt of South Africa’s rhino poaching deaths in the past year.

While Namibia, home to the largest number of black rhinos in the world, saw a devastating 93% increase in rhino poaching from 2021 to 2022.

World Rhino Day is aimed at raising awareness around all five rhino species and the work being done to save them. South Africa is home to the majority of the world’s rhino and it is no surprise that it has been the country hit hardest by poachers.

More than 1 000 rhinos have been killed each year between 2013 and 2017 in the country. Although there’s a decrease in the number of poached rhino, over 230 were killed between January and June this year. The Game Rangers Association of Africa says rangers have been hard at work to safeguard the endangered animals.

The association’s CEO, Andrew Campbell says, “Rangers work goes beyond just everyone knows about the counter-poaching, and anti poaching work that they do. But it’s beyond that. It’s about wildlife monitoring, it’s about community engagement, it’s about undertaking conservation work. It’s about fighting fires, it’s about fixing fences and roads, so it’s so much more, and rangers do all these things out there and no conservation work is possible without having dedicated people on the ground, doing the handwork under the sun like we see today.

Campbell adds, “It’s a hot day here, it must be over 40 degrees. This is your general working conditions of many ranger across Africa. So, all respect to them. and as I said, they’re the key to conservation, because having well supported well led resource ranger teams on the ground. Rangers from various game farms say that they are facing numerous challenges on a daily basis.

“We need intervention worldwide, so that they can be able to assist because rangers are risking their life and we cannot do it on our own, we need people from across the world to come and support rangers. Sometimes we do roadblocks, we search cars that are coming in so that we can check what people are bringing in with them. If they have a guns we check their licenses and the number of live ammunition. This is very huge problem, but at least for now it’s not as bad as before. If you check we have had this problem since 2012 and in 2015 it was worse, then from 2015 to 2020 there was a decline. However, in the past 3 years it seems as though we have the situation under control.”

Dehorning of rhino, intervention by law enforcement agencies and hefty sentences to rhino poachers have played a significant role in reducing poaching. Between January and June this year, 31 people were imprisoned for rhino poaching.

Source: eNCA

In other news – Tom Holland opens up about his fear of losing his Marvel career

Tom Holland didn’t hesitate to reveal one of the biggest fears he had for his Marvel career. During an interview with Daniel Kaluuya for Variety’s Actor on Actor series, Tom shared how he was afraid that Marvel was going to fire him after his debut performance in Captain America: Civil War.

Tom Holland

Calling it an “irrational fear,” Tom said, “From the moment of shooting ‘Civil War’ to shooting ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming,’ I was convinced they were going to fire me. I don’t know why. Read more

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Teenager shoots student dead at Russian school before killing herself

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A 14-year-old girl shot a fellow pupil dead and wounded five other children today before killing herself at a school in the Russian city of Bryansk, officials said.

“According to preliminary investigation data, a 14-year-old girl brought a pump-action shotgun to school, from which she fired shots at her classmates,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Investigators were working to establish the motive, the statement said. Regional governor Alexander Bogomaz called it a “terrible tragedy.” He said the five people wounded were all children with mild or moderate injuries.

The news outlet Mash published what it said was a photograph of the dead shooter, sprawled on the floor and dressed all in black. It said she was also armed with a hunting knife.

The photo appeared to show a long-handled knife tucked into her right boot.

Guns are normally tightly controlled in Russia, but Bryansk is one of several southern regions that have seen cross-border attacks in the course of the war with Ukraine, and where Moscow has encouraged the formation of self-defence units.

“Together with law enforcement agencies, we are determining the circumstances under which the student was able to obtain and bring a weapon to school,” Bogomaz said.

Russia has seen several school shootings in recent years.

In 2018, an 18-year-old student killed 20 people, mostly fellow pupils, in a mass shooting at a college in Russian-occupied Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.

In September last year, a gunman with a swastika on his teeshirt killed 15 people, including 11 children, and wounded 24 at a school in Izhevsk where he had once been a pupil, and then committed suicide, investigators said.

Source: eNCA

In other news – Mzansi concerned for Zahara who’s reportedly fighting for her life

South Africans are praying for award-winning musician Bulelwa Mkutukana aka Zahara who was admitted into hospital and transferred to ICU after falling seriously ill.

Zahara

A source from the hospital revealed to Zimoja on Sunday, 3 December that chances of Zahara spending Christmas in hospital are high after she was admitted a fortnight ago with a liver-related complications. Read more

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EU crisis management chief slams attack on West Bank school

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Janez Lenarcic

The European Union’s commissioner in charge of the bloc’s crisis management condemned on Wednesday an attack by Israeli settlers on a school in Zanuta, a Palestinian village situated in the Israeli military-occupied West Bank.

“Israeli settlers demolished a school in Zamuta, a village in the occupied #Palestinian Territory,” Janez Lenarcic, the EU’s Commissioner for Crisis Management, wrote on social media platform X, using an alternative spelling for Zanuta. The school was built by EU funds – because every child, everywhere has a right to education. This destruction is intolerable and a violation of International Humanitarian Law,” added Lenarcic, who also deals with humanitarian aid.

Earlier this week, the United States began imposing visa bans on people involved in violence in the West Bank, after it and other countries appealed to Israel to do more to prevent violence by extremist Jewish settlers against Palestinians.

The Israel military occupied the West Bank, which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state, in a 1967 Middle East war. Israeli settlers have since built Jewish settlements there that most countries deem illegal. Israel disputes this and cites historical and biblical ties to the land.

The West Bank is home to 3 million Palestinians who live among more than half a million Jewish settlers. Continued settlement expansion is one of the most contentious issues between Israel, Palestinians and the international community.

Source: eNCA

In other news – No girlfriend allowance from Sjava

Well-known South African singer and rapper, Sjava doesn’t support the idea of giving girlfriends allowances.

The musician made this known while speaking on a media platform. Read more

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