Smugglers turn to park rangers to poach rhinos

By Rachael Bale, ANIMALS Executive Editor

When Nat Geo writer and Explorer Tara Keir spent time with wildlife rangers in South Africa’s Kruger National Park in 2019, they told her that their rhinos—there are more wild rhinos there than anywhere else in the world—would likely be poached out of the park within two or three years.

It was a shocking statement, and one that thankfully didn’t come to pass. The rangers have done such a good job protecting rhinos that poaching incidents, while still high, have continued to drop. Breaching Kruger’s fences to kill wildlife has become nearly impossible.

But combating poaching is like whack-a-mole. Can’t break into the park? Get people already inside the park to help instead. Keir reports that, either through corruption or coercion, poaching syndicates have drafted park staff—rangers included—to provide confidential information about ranger deployments and rhino locations, to help move weapons in and rhino horn out, and even to kill rhinos themselves.

She points to the case of Rodney Landela (pictured above on an anti-poaching patrol in 2014) as an example of how bad it’s become: A former star ranger who many believed was next in line to fill the role of Kruger’s head ranger, Landela was caught in 2016 fleeing the scene of a dead rhino and was arrested (by his subordinates!) on poaching-related charges. His trial was set to begin Tuesday, but the judge granted another delay—the case’s ninth.

This threat of inside involvement is taking its toll. One ranger, who leads a team of about 20, told Keir he prefers to go on patrol by himself because he doesn’t trust that most of his rangers haven’t been paid off by criminal ringleaders to thwart his efforts—or kill him. Some rangers keep their profession a secret to avoid becoming a target for criminal recruitment.

“Some of the best rangers in the park now, I know are involved,” says Don English, a regional ranger who helps lead anti-poaching efforts. “Everyone that I look at, I don’t know who I can trust. I don’t trust anybody.” (Above, a southern white rhinoceros in the bush at Kruger.) 

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TODAY IN A MINUTE

Who says they’re lonely? Sharks may not be as solitary as originally thought.Researchers have discovered the fish congregating and interacting with others of their own species in ways that suggest they have long-lasting friendships. “We now know that sharks are capable of forming social associations with other individuals that last years,” says Nat Geo Explorer Yannis Papastamatiou. But wait, there’s more. Catch up on Nat Geo’s six-week SharkFest here. (Pictured above, lemon sharks, who seek the companionship of other sharks, off Grand Bahama.)

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Grizzly bear kills camper in western Montana: The bear had wandered into a campsite before the early-morning attack Tuesday. Officials said the victim was part of a group of cyclists on a trip. Law enforcement and wildlife specialists were tracking down the bear, the Guardian reports.

Slow ride: Boaters south of Martha’s Vineyard have to motor slower temporarily to protect rare whales traveling through there this month. The new federal rule is designed to protect North Atlantic right whales, which number only about 360 and could get hit by boats or tangled in fishing lines and nets, the Associated Press reports.

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Super social, highly intelligent, and endangered: That would be the animal known as the painted dog, painted wolf, or African wild dog. The species cares for its injured. They greet each other as family before they go out to hunt. Another pack member often stays behind to care for the puppies. Photographer Karine Aigner says she has come to admire the apex predator, which suffers from habitat loss, snaring, car collisions, and disease.

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THE LAST GLIMPSE

Fighting for survival: Wildfires in 2020 destroyed a third of Brazil’s Pantanal region, a crucial habitat for the lowland tapir (pictured above). Conservation biologist and Nat Geo Explorer Patrícia Medici is focused on saving the tapirs that weren’t killed in the fires. “We have to make sure that they survive so their habitat will be there for the next generation,” Medici says of the tapir, which can grow up to six feet long and weigh 550 pounds.

Patrícia Medici’s work has been funded by the National Geographic Society, which supports explorers protecting critical species. Learn more.