World Ranger Day, Dodgy Diplomats and Sylvester’s Award

On the landmark 10th World Ranger Day, we look at how the role of a ranger has changed against a backdrop of ever more sophisticated poachers, and ask what do rangers need the most?

New report alleges North Korean regime is funded by rhino horn trade

This month, corruption at its highest levels has dominated press coverage on the illegal wildlife trade.

A stand-out report by Julian Rademeyer exposed the international networks responsible for smuggling poached rhino horn, with North Koreas "dodgy diplomats" taking centre stage.

According to the report, penned with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, since 1986 North Korean diplomats have been implicated in 16 of 29 rhino horn smuggling incidents involving diplomats, with the illegal wildlife trade and other illicit activities bankrolling the pariah state’s regime.

July also saw news break that the head of Zimbabwe’s Department for Parks and Wildlife Management Authority’s Director General, Edson Chidziya, had been suspended amidst allegations of corruption. In the country, the move has raised eyebrows as commentators wonder if it has anything to do with the Zimbabwean government’s desire to lobby CITES to lift the international trading ban on its ivory stockpiles.

Meanwhile, in South Africa, a legal challenge was made by accused poacher Hugo Ras and his alleged syndicate; with potentially far reaching consequences for the success of future prosecutions.

Catch up on our corruption round-up here.

Huge accolade for Education Officer Sylvester

Sylvester Kampamba knows the power of education. In his role at Lolesha Luangwa Conservation Programme, he visits classrooms to teach school children all about black rhinos – a species poached out of the region by the 1980s and successfully reintroduced to the region in the early 2000s. This time, with a new generation of conservationists on-side, the future for Zambia’s black rhino population looks a whole lot brighter.

Sylvester takes children to see rhinos up close for the first time, and teaches them all about the benefits the rhinos can bring. He’s a role model they really look up to, and we’re delighted that his ground-breaking work came third place in the prestigious Rhino Conservation Awards, for the best Awareness, Education and Funding category.
Well done Sylvester!

P.s. We were sad to hear the news that baby Ringo, the abandoned Southern white rhino calf at Ol Peteja Conservancy in Kenya died after suffering a recent illness.

Photo credits: Save the Rhino International, Denise Ackerman.

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