Money, action and speed will defeat poachers

Two Sundays ago, I asked the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to address the worrisome issue of poaching. It did soon after and, last week the Environment Cabinet Secretary Judy Wakhungu also weighed in on the matter.

However, Kenya will not stop poaching of the critically endangered rhino and elephant by Wildlife Direct accusing officialdom of providing sanctuary for poachers and KWS of cooking rhino figures.

Kenya will win the war against poaching of the twin endangered species by government ensuring KWS has a pervasive, round-the-clock presence of highly-mobile, well-trained and armed-to-the-teeth rangers.

Rangers must have state-of-the-art weaponry and gadgetry, including CCTV surveillance. This means, for example, the rangers must be equipped with night-vision goggles if they are to own the night when they face poachers. If poachers own the night, the war is lost. (READ: All night search as poachers kill rhino)

The rangers must similarly own the skies if they are to effectively patrol the parameters of Kenya’s eight conservation areas which comprise national parks, national reserves and sanctuaries. Indeed, KWS should at this time be considering deploying drones to fight poachers.

The rangers must out-number poachers and overwhelm them with superior fire-power. If wildlife is the pillar of Kenya’s tourism and tourism is our leading foreign exchange earner, then the case is made for each of its 1,041 rhinos to be guarded by 10 rangers round the clock.

Witness the following: Kenya’s eight conservation areas comprise 24 national parks, 29 national reserves, four marine parks, six marine reserves and five national sanctuaries. These cover eight per cent of the country’s landmass. That massive expanse of land is supposed to be policed and patrolled by some 2,700 rangers.

Now they are rangers because they are in uniform, but not all of them are active on the front line against poachers. Some are old and cannot chase poachers. Some are assigned duties other than engaging poachers. So, strictly, the number of rangers actively combating poachers is under 1,000.

That is rather like assigning one ranger the task of patrolling the Nairobi National Park! Now these young people cannot take leave because there is nobody to hand over to and, therefore, are fatigued most of the time. KWS must, in the short term, work to triple the numbers of its front line rangers.

MARCHING ON STOMACH

It must also pay them well. The famous quote “an army marches on its stomach” has been attributed to both Frederick the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte, but its meaning and applicability to the war against poaching cannot be in doubt. KWS’ army of rangers will only be efficient if adequately paid and supplied.

Last year, a poacher offered a ranger Sh500,000 to tell him the GPRS co-ordinates of a rhino. He declined and instead informed his superiors of the co-ordinates of the poacher. Rangers earn between Sh20,000 and Sh30,000, which means KWS must train them to be passionate about protection of animals and not fall for the temptation that is a poachers’ instant money.

Of course, KWS is aware that this temptation is not limited to serving rangers. Ex-rangers who fall for the temptation will turn to their serving colleagues dangling the promise of instant big money. That is how cartels are created. KWS must clean its house to clean up its act. To clean up its act, KWS must share intelligence with the National Intelligence Service and other security organs.

Next, Nairobi must wage the anti-poaching war on the diplomatic front. It must actively join or indeed lead the campaign to educate the Chinese and Vietnamese, for example, that powder made from a rhino horn or elephant tusk has neither medicinal nor Viagra-style value.

Therefore, the high demand for rhino horn is misplaced and the huge amounts of money paid is money thrown down the drain.

The diplomatic front must advance the view that the rhino and elephant are global resources and the world must protect them. Kenya’s 1,041 rhinos form the third largest concentration in the world after South Africa and Namibia. Does the world want to lose these animals? I think not.

That means as long as the demand for the horn and tusk remains high, the global counter must be intensive protection of the remaining rhinos and elephants. But charity begins at home; government must empower KWS financially for it to effectively fight poaching.

Money, action and speed are of the essence if this war is to be won.

Opanga is a media consultant. [email protected]