Rhino protectors face fiscal battle

Costs mount as sanctuaries fight to prevent poaching

Claus Mortensen is a private Kenyan rancher with a passion - endangered rhinos - and now a mission: Save his herd from slaughter by ruthless poachers who sell their horns to Asia, where they are prized as a miracle drug.

But costs are spiraling for Mortensen and other ranchers as they battle to keep one step ahead of the hunters and guarantee the survival of rhinos, and elephants, on their expansive, remote reserves.

"Seeing a dead rhino is terrible," said Mortensen, who runs Mugie ranch, about 300 kilometers north of the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

"Mugie is located in such a remote corner that to secure it, we need many more helicopters and airplanes," he said.

Twenty rhinos were reintroduced to the 18,000-hectare sanctuary in 2004. Four years later, poachers struck, killing one animal and hacking off its horns.

"It happened again and again," said Mortensen, explaining that his work - and that of other ranchers - has changed from basic conservation to intelligence-gathering operations aimed at deterring poachers.

And the change has pushed up bills: Private ranchers have had to triple the number of rangers working their reserves. It now costs an average of $1,200 a month, up from $150, to keep one rhino alive.

"All night, all day ... you have your telephone on, radio on, next to your bed. And when somebody calls, your heart stops beating," Mortensen said.

Kenya, which has the world's third-largest rhino population - around 600 black and 300 white rhinos, is constantly battling poachers. In 2009, it suffered its worst year for rhino poaching when 12 black and six white rhinos were killed.

The illegal trade is driven by the voracious Asian and Middle Eastern demand for the animals' horns for use in traditional medicines for fevers, convulsions and as an aphrodisiac.

The horns mainly contain keratin - a substance also found in animal hooves, human nails and hair - and despite having no medicinal value, demand continues to rise.

"The increase, escalation of poaching is driven by the growing influence of the Asian economy. There is a legal market for illegal horns," said Patrick Bergin, the director of the Washington-based African Wildlife Foundation.

"It is a complex phenomenon. Poachers are from international gangs and have sophisticated arms - and they are ready to do anything," said Patrick Omondi of the state-run Kenya Wildlife Service.

A kilogram of rhino horn can cost as much as $60,000, according to KWS estimates.

The KWS has transferred 11 of Mugie's rhinos to a park near the shores of Lake Victoria, and will relocate the rest to another more secure private ranch.

Poachers have also hit Kenya's renowned rhino sanctuaries in Laikipia, on the equator in the foothills of snowcapped Mount Kenya.

"Private sanctuaries do not have enough money. They cannot afford to protect the rhinos," said Mordecai Ogadam of the Laikipia Wildlife Forum.

Agence France-Presse