O.R.C.A. Force, Sea Shepherd’s land-based investigation and intervention unit, is currently involved in a highly successful collaboration with local organizations in an effort to enhance anti-poaching efforts within South Africa. Recently, the team received a request for assistance from the South African organisation SPOTS (Strategic Protection of Threatened Species). O.R.C.A. Force team members gladly accepted the invitation to assist SPOTS, who funded the Sea Shepherd crew’s trip to aid their rhino project.
“The decision to support SPOTS was easy to make, even though currently they aren’t targeting ocean wildlife”, explains O.R.C.A. Force director Laurens de Groot. “The Asian crime syndicates profiting from the illegal rhino horn trade are exactly the same as those making huge profits from the shark fin trade. We need to battle these criminals on all fronts whether on land or sea, with the aim of hitting them where it hurts most, by decimating their profits. SPOTS uses innovative direct-action tactics to hunt for poachers, which is exactly what Sea Shepherd is all about, so helping them was in line with our mission.”
At the moment SPOTS co-founder Peter Milton estimates there are less than 12,000 white rhino and 2,500 black rhino left in South Africa. Most of the rhino are shot and left to die in agony while the poachers take off with their 6-7 kilo horn. Profits in this illegal and atrocious trade are high, with a single horn selling to the middle men for as much as USD $65,000 per kilo. Eventually the horns are ground up and end up in the Chinese and Vietnamese markets where they are sold per gram, creating an estimated profit for the mafia in the region of USD $1,000,000 per horn…