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Dear All,

The face of a live sedated chain-sawed, “faceless” rhino.

It seems clear that there must be some involvement at the highest levels in the South African government, the police and Wildlife Protection Services in this disaster because it is obvious that no one in authority appears willing or able to do anything about this. The poachers appear to be operating at will and in fact, looking at this notification, it would seem that they are taunting the world with it. I know a lot of you folks are incensed by it and like me feel completely helpless in this situation, especially those of you in South Africa. I have forwarded the note on to an organisation I subscribe to called Care 2 Petition in the hope that we can raise the tempo somewhat and force the South African, Mozambique and Zimbabwe (The latter a lost cause I think!) governments to do something to weed out the graft and corruption and most of all bring the perpetrators of these crimes to book. If anyone on this distribution list has any contact with UK, Canadian, US governments or UN organisations, please do what you can to highlight the plight of these animals. It is not as though there is any benefit to the local populations engendered through these killings. It is only the greedy hunters and those in the Far East who create the market for the products of these ill gotten gains.

19/08/10 – We lost another one in Limpopo today. Our rhino was shot 12 times with a .223, presumably a semi automatic R5 assault rifle, and they also slashed the animals hind leg tendons to take it down. They probably wounded it badly and had to do that to stop it from moving around so that they could kill it. So no helicopter used. We are having many of these .223 caliber killings and many of them have been linked with the same rifle so one group is operating and we are unable to catch them. It’s a disgrace.

Poachers strike yet again!! 20/08/10 – Today at approx 06.30 hours we had an adult white rhino cow poached and the horn removed. Our manager came upon the scene minutes after the shooting and a follow up is in progress, but it is proving difficult as the poachers are barefoot and using anti tracking tactics – a 375 H+H caliber was used. We have had a spate of rhino poached to date despite serious anti poaching activities – this is the 10th rhino since early December 2009 to be poached on and around the reserve – Sabie Game Park (bordering the eastern fence of the Kruger National Park) is home to the largest herd of rhino in the entire Mozambique and is under siege from the poachers.

Sadly a second Rhino cow was found dead after the poachers were followed from the 1st (seen below with horn removed). That makes it two for the day! If we in the wildlife industry don’t get the support that we need from Government and drastic action is not taken then I am afraid that the Rhino as we know it today will not exist within 10 years!

THAILAND – Bangkok Star A woman mourns over the body of her deceased husband after he had purchased apparently purposely contaminated Rhino horn on the open market in Bangkok. The source of the contamination is still to be verified but it is thought to be from a private game farm somewhere in southern Africa. Officials in Thailand are frantic to identify the source, as the powdered horn is sold in miniscule amounts and they have no idea how much has already been distributed throughout Bangkok. Local hospitals are on standby for an unprecedented influx of new cases. Officials are unable get information as the rhino horn dealers in Bangkok are being uncooperative. They neither want to be fingered as being the provider of the poisoned horn, not do they want to reveal their illegal international sources. It is believed that private game farm owners in southern Africa are colluding between themselves to distribute an effective poison that is harmless to the animals but harmful, or even fatal as in this case, to those that ingest the contaminated horn. A game farm owner from the North West Province who obviously wishes to remain anonymous, has admitted to using the poison on 4 of his animals. Three of them have shown no side-effects whatsoever 2 months after the poison was injected into the horns. However the 4th rhino was slaughtered and de-horned on a remote part of his farm in the last week of July. When asked to comment on the death in Thailand from suspect poisoned rhino horn, he refused to be drawn into the morals of the farmers joint action. He said that there would be many more cases in the near future as he was personally aware of at least another 5 slaughters of contaminated rhinos in the North West Province alone. Authorities in South Africa are unable to comment on the “poison” collusion among the game farm owners nor are they able to verify the source of the contaminated horn.

UPDATE:

Johannesburg – 2010-08-23 20:00 A national committee has been set up to tackle rhino poaching in South Africa, the SA National Parks (Sanparks) said on Monday. “The intention of the committee is to improve communication and co-ordination among the anti-poaching initiatives by Sanparks, government, police, and security agencies, private game reserves and rhino owners as well as other conservation and wildlife organisations,” Sanparks spokesperson Sam Ferreira said. Sam Ferreira, the newly elected committee chair, said four initial priorities to fight rhino poaching were agreed upon by the committee.

1. To set up a National Number which people could phone to report rhino poaching activities.
2. To co-ordinate the provision of intelligence from all groups to the National Wildlife Crime Reaction Unit.
3. To co-ordinate a National Fundraising Campaign for specific anti-poaching initiatives.
4. To run an information campaign about rhino poaching and the use of rhino horn.

The committee was set up on Monday (23/08/10) at the Lead SA Rhino Summit, where the resolution was signed by 37 representatives of organisations including the SAPS Hawks, the Department of Environmental Affairs, Crimeline and the Endangered Wildlife Trust.

If you’d like to get started helping, please join the Zululand Wildlife eForum on Facebook for more information.

via: Soiled Earth

Go Green! At least that’s what they think, you think, they’re making you think, they think…

Confused yet? Corporate greed has always been the bane of the environment. Now greed has gone ‘green’ again, this time it’s a pretty paint job, for the same green they have always chased, money.

How to Sell a Lock… Choke a Tree and Kill Some Hippies!

Photo: masterlock
I think the point was supposed to be ‘our locks are tuff’ but all I can see is a bunch of dead hippies. They want you to think it’s a great product and you can tell. You can tell because they are willing to kill environmentally conscious humans and choke a tree to death. See how much they care about green?

How to Sell a Battery… Poison the Environment of Course!

Photo: koba

Photo: koba

Photo: koba
Nothing says ‘our product’s good’ like showing how hard it is for nature to reclaim.

On the other hand, this just reminds me of all the toxic pollution we gladly buy, then toss back at Mother Nature to handle. None of their advertising agents must have moved out of their mom’s house yet, because nobody else’s mom still cleans up their mess once they’re on their own.

How to Sell Auto Recycling… Make us Feel Guilty About it!

Photo: skoda

Photo: skoda

Photo: skoda
Ok, even I admit this company may be greedy, but at least serves a real green need. They are also the only one to make an honest and useful point…

“Mother Nature should not have to adapt to our trash”

For business greed is considered good, at least within its own walls. Most companies will never admit the perversity of their ad campaigns, at least when consumers don’t complain, or the real reasons behind them. The world is at war with our habits and she needs our help. Can you make a difference, or will you just keep consuming?

Is the  Federal Government getting into the venture capitalist business, loaning money to a 10-year-old company saddled with a massive debt load and an initial stock price of $6.00 per share?

Case in point, President Obama visited ZBB Energy Storage Corp. last week and expounded upon how green technology is the wave of the future and all the jobs being provided by the aforementioned company.

During a visit to a Wisconsin company to promote his energy policy, President Barack Obama praised ZBB Energy Corporation as an important contributor to a clean energy economy. The Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based company makes products that integrate renewable energy generation with smart storage for markets worldwide. The ZBB Zinc Energy Storage System (ZESS) is a proprietary and patented regenerative energy storage system based on zinc/bromide technology, which is very different in concept and design from more traditional methods of energy storage such as the lead/acid battery.

“ZBB has been around for more than a decade, developing batteries and equipment to store energy from wind turbines and solar cells. More efficient and long-lasting storage devices have long been the Holy Grail of renewable energy, since they would allow operators to store intermittent wind and solar energy for later use. A technological breakthrough would be a great achievement, but the problem is that the effort has proven to be both difficult and costly.”

But what is really going on with this company, a company whose stock recently closed at a paltry $0.66 per share? There is another side to this story that must be revealed to the American taxpayers, taxpayers whose hard-earned money is being spent on green projects that rarely pan out.

Did the government even look at ZBB’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission? Since going public in June of 2007, ZBB has been hemorrhaging money. Current losses: $4.9 million in 2008, $5.5 million in 2009 and $6.9 million for the first nine months of this year, bringing their total losses to $44.1 million. Just recently, the company informed their shareholders that more losses are expected and that the company will be in a worse predicament if unable to continue borrowing money. Even with this year’s borrowing totaling approximately $4.7 million and access to $10 million more, due to a new credit agreement, how can ZZB survive if their business stays at current levels, less than 10% of total capacity? This means it can’t currently access the $14 million in federal tax credits, which were supposed to help with equipment for a new facility.

Other problems have been exposed: “A review by the company’s audit committee last fall discovered that ZBB’s former CEO had been wrongly compensated as both an employee and an independent contractor, and that the company had failed to withhold his proper taxes. He stepped down, and the management team was reshuffled. ZBB was also forced to restate its financial results after a separate audit committee review found the company had recognized revenue from a contract in the wrong quarter.”

If ZBB survives the current recession they will still have to increase capacity, and with current revenues and borrowing, this will be very hard to do if red ink continues to flow.

However, should they survive, the feds will say “look at this company and what they have done with green funds.”

The other side of the coin? We know the rest of the story. The U.S. taxpayers will have to eat more debt in an economy that is struggling with so many people out of work. Could all the money loaned have been better spent and utilized?

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