Stop Rhino being sold by Kruger Park to Hunting Farms

To bring pressure on the Kruger National Park in South  Africa to stop their commercial trade in Kruger National Park of between 200 and 350 rhino. 

After fighting so hard to bring the back from near extinction, they now want to sell the rhino to farms where hunting takes place.  Poaching is on the increase again, what is going to happen to our Rhino numbers. In the last 18 months to 58 %u2013 (56 white rhino and two black) where killed in Kruger by poachers.  About 77 rhinos were killed by poachers in Zimbabwe last year.   36 cows and their calves had been relocated from Kruger to a buyer's property, Langlaagte, near Klerksdrop, so far. But 10 of the animals had died.  SANParks never checked the suitability of the property for the sale and relocation with the result 10 rhino died.  Which adds to the outrage of the rhino being sold to hunting farms. 

Are we turning the clock back on the extinction status of our Rhino in Southern Africa.  Please take the time to sign this petiton and thank you for caring.

To bring pressure on the Kruger National Park in South  Africa to stop their commercial trade in Kruger National Park of between 200 and 350 rhino. 

After fighting so hard to bring the back from near extinction, they now want to sell the rhino to farms where hunting takes place.  Poaching is on the increase again, what is going to happen to our Rhino numbers. In the last 18 months to 58 %u2013 (56 white rhino and two black) where killed in Kruger by poachers.  About 77 rhinos were killed by poachers in Zimbabwe last year.   36 cows and their calves had been relocated from Kruger to a buyer's property, Langlaagte, near Klerksdrop, so far. But 10 of the animals had died.  SANParks never checked the suitability of the property for the sale and relocation with the result 10 rhino died.  Which adds to the outrage of the rhino being sold to hunting farms. 

Are we turning the clock back on the extinction status of our Rhino in Southern Africa.  Please take the time to sign this petiton and thank you for caring.

Dear Mr Mabunda

We the undersigned, ask you to please re consider your decision to sell 200 to 350 rhino from Kruger Park.  With the increase in poaching this is not a wise decision.  Especially since most of the rhino are to be sold to hunting farms.  Many dedicated people which include many of your staff and SANParks spent many hours and years of dedication to increasing the reduced rhino populations. To now assist in wiping out the rhino population yet again is not a wise decision.

There seem to be no figures of the actual populations of the rhino in Kruger available.  There is also no scientific papers to ensure that removing this many Rhino from the parks will not have a serious negative effect on the remaining rhino populations in the parks.

Conservation should be paid for from the national budget, and SANParks should not be turning wild animals into mere commodities to raise funds.

Bad management is also not an excuse.  The latest debacle with the rhino sold to John Hume, is an example of mismanagement.  The farm should have been inspected for suitability to place rhino, this was not done with a result 10 rhino died.  This was only the start of the sale and re-location what will happen to the other 300 you want to sell and move. 

Hector Magome, executive director of conservation services at Sanparks, said the game park did not have a legal duty to see to the welfare of the animals after they were sold.

Hector Magome also said, "However, we do feel ethically responsible for these animals, and therefore we screen prospective buyers carefully. If a buyer has let us down once, we'll never sell rhinos to him again."

As responsible citizens we can not allow this kind of thing to happen.  We would not be as outraged if the animals were re-located to other reserves.

But to sentence them to death by sending them to hunting farms just to make money is shocking.

I know SANParks said that they would use the profits from the rhino sales to buy more land for conservation and to initiate special conservation projects.  

The word conservation stands out in that sentence, selling rhino to hunters does not fit with the word conservation, conservation means preserving, conserving, you are custodians (custodians are protectors of).  So how can one be seen to be conservationists if you are destroying the very creatures you are commissioned to protect.

We would like this issue resolved as soon as possible.

Thank you for taking time to read this petition.