The security costs of preventing poaching are a disproportionate strain on conservation budgets and new solutions must be found to make it viable in the long run. This is what Francois Spruyt‚ chair of the Welgevonden Game Reserve in Limpopo‚ said on Tuesday during a panel discussion at the MTN Business Internet of Things Conference and Awards in Midrand. "[Poachers] get money every time they get a rhino horn. We get no extra money if we save one of our rhinos. [The rhino] just keeps wandering around and eating our grass‚" he said. "We used to outsource [security]. Now it is absolutely critical to us and it costs an enormous amount‚ a disproportionate amount of our budget."
Spruyt said there had been a surge in demand for body parts of animals such as rhinos‚ elephants‚ pangolins and lions in the last decade. "The economic miracles that occurred in some of those Asian countries put a lot more people in a position where they have disposable cash and they can afford luxury items...
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