Leucistic impala on the Kruger

White impala photographed by Ian MacDonell

January 2012.  Ian MacDonell writes "I took of a leucistic impala this past November about 1/2 kilometre from Shingwedzi Camp in the Kruger Park in South Africa. The pattern shows it to be a different one than the one already on your website. Since it has reached adulthood in an area with many predators its mostly white coat seems not to be a great disadvantage."

                  LEUCISTIC IMPALA ON THE KRUGER NATIONAL PARK - PHOTOGRAPED BY IAN MACDONNELL

Leucism (or Leukism) 

Leucism is a very unusual condition whereby the pigmentation cells in an animal or bird fail to develop properly. This can result in unusual white patches appearing on the animal, or, more rarely, completely white creatures. 

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/leucistic-impala.html

Kruger National Park to protect its rhinoceroses

Wildlife authorities in one of Africa's most popular national parks will no longer tell visitors where to find its rhinoceroses after an upsurge in poaching in recent months.


Previously, tourists staying at one of the Kruger National Park's rest camps were able to consult maps decorated with coloured pins telling them where the elusive beasts were last spotted, maximising their chances of finding one.


But camp managers have been told to remove any information about the rhinos' whereabouts amid fears that poachers could also be consulting the boards in the hunt for their prey.

In the past week, six rhino carcases have been found in the two million-hectare park. All of them had been shot and had their horns removed.

Rhino poaching has soared in southern Africa, driven by a demand for their horns from Asia, where they are erroneously believed to cure cancer and impotence.

Crime syndicates provide poachers with sophisticated weaponry including high-powered rifles, night-vision goggles and even helicopters to locate and kill the rhinos.

The trade has driven Africa's white and black rhinos onto the global list of endangered and critically endangered species.


The South African military has been deployed to work with game rangers to protect the animals, but the numbers killed continue to climb.

Recent figures released by the South African National Parks authority reveal that 405 rhinos have been killed in the country so far this year, compared to 333 last year. A total of 229 rhino were poached in Kruger this year – compared to 146 last year.

William Mabasa, a spokesman for Kruger, which welcomes 1.2m visitors a year, said that removing the rhino signposts was part of a continuous drive to stop the killings.

"We don't know who else is using these boards but we will do anything we believe might have a contribution," he said. "When you are in a war, there's no success until the end of the war."

He insisted that tourists are still likely to see rhino regardless, but added: "Part of the fun of coming to the Kruger is to be find your own animal."


By Aislinn Laing, Johannesburg

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/8940647/Kruger-National-Park-to-protect-its-rhinoceroses.html

Kruger rhino massacre continues

Rhino poaching surge continues in 2011

June 2011. Nearly 200 rhinos have been killed in South Africa during the first half the year, according to statistics from the national parks department. The rate of poaching, if not curbed, could exceed 2010 levels when a record 333 rhinos were killed in the country.

Despite the army deploying, Rhino poaching is getting worse.Images courtesy of Pro Track Anti-Poaching Unit, South Africa .

193 rhinos killed in 2011 so far - 126 in the Kruger alone
South Africa has lost at least 193 rhinos during the first six months of 2011 with Kruger National Park continuing to be hardest hit. The world famous safari destination has already lost 126 rhinos to poaching this year in addition to 146 killed there in 2010.

"Poaching is being undertaken almost without exception by sophisticated criminals, sometimes hunting from helicopters and using automatic weapons," says Dr. Joseph Okori, WWF's African Rhino Programme Coordinator. "South Africa is fighting a war against organized crime that risks reversing the outstanding conservation gains it made over the past century."

South Africa is home to the largest populations of African rhinos, including white rhinos and critically endangered black rhinos.

Arrests and convictions
In response to the recent poaching crisis, law enforcement measures have been increased resulting in 123 arrests and six successful convictions so far in 2011. Last year South African authorities arrested a total of 165 suspected poachers and convicted four. Judicial proceedings are ongoing for many of the suspects.

"We are pleased to see more successful convictions of poachers," said Dr. Morné du Plessis, CEO of WWF South Africa. "Applying strict penalties for wildlife crimes such as rhino poaching will demonstrate the South African government's commitment to maintaining this important part of the country's heritage."

Swaziland
In June, neighbouring Swaziland lost its first rhino to poaching in nearly 20 years sparking fears that the crime wave could be spreading. Authorities in Swaziland arrested three suspects within days of the killing, but have since released them on bail.

WWF opposes the granting of bail to poaching suspects due to the gravity of their crimes and their high flight risk. Suspects at large continue to pose a threat to rhinos and can cause delays to judicial proceedings.

"We cannot allow poaching to proliferate across rhino range countries," Dr. Okori says. "Swift prosecutions of wildlife crimes and strict sentences for perpetrators will serve as a deterrent to potential criminals. Poachers should be shown no leniency."

‘Traditional medicine'
Rhino poaching is being fuelled by demand for horns in Asia, where they are highly valued for traditional medicine, although rhino horn has no scientifically proven healing properties.

"The poaching surge shows no sign of abating," says Tom Milliken, Elephant & Rhino Programme Coordinator with TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring group. "Only a concerted international enforcement pincer movement, at both ends of the supply and demand chain, can hope to nip this rhino poaching crisis in the bud."

WWF and TRAFFIC provide technical assistance to wildlife management authorities and support greater inter-agency law enforcement cooperation. In May WWF financed the purchase of an ultralight aircraft for rangers patrolling against poachers in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province.

TRAFFIC is a joint programme of WWF and IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/kruger-rhino011.html#cr