Rhino Poaching by helicopter AGAIN

[Nkwazi]

To those pigs that darted 2 rhino's from a helicopter and then cut off their horns and let them bleed to death - I hate you. How dare you even call yourselves pilots you cowards
Someone, somewhere must know who these bastards are.

[John Boucher]

Hey Brett.... wasn't there a similar situation in the latter part of 2009?

Really shocking stuff this!

[Nkwazi]

Apparantly 3rd one this year in the same reserve - sickening

[Ranger]

I JUST CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT I"M READING What the hell next. Guys if anyone finds out who these bastards are just give me 5 minutes with them. I promise it will be quick. My they crash in the bush and suffer. Being an ex game ranger i have witnessed this crap first hand. Bastards!!!!

[AndyG]

http://www.ewn.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=31522

[Tailspin]

When did this Happen.
I noticed a small chopper flying the other day heading away from the game reserve in WX that i thought was stupid to Fly in. They were heading towards Rand or grand central
I had the video camera with me i will check to see if i get them in the viewer by any chance.

Give me 5 min with them and it will not be Quick trust me, they will have their horns removed aswell

[Morph]

There is a simple solution, Quietly ban the flying of helicopters over all reserves who have rhinos.

Arm the rangers with RPG Missiles, and dart their arse

We had an issue at Morning Star

2 guys arrived in a Toyota Tazz and sat and waited. White R44 heli arrives lands and the pilot doesn't even come greet us. So one of the the airfield committee guys goes up to him and introduces himself and requests a landing fee. (not normal for folks who have manners ) The guy hauls out R1k ( this should have raised suspicion immediately)

So the two guys get out of the car, fully dressed, carrying who big tog bags loaded full. They jump in and away they go.

A while later they return, the two jump out, now wearing wetsuits, dripping wet and the same tog bags, still full. They jump in the car and disappear. The chopper takes off and leaves heading for FACT

IIRC one of the committee called the airport and they had a welcoming party for the pilot when he returned the chopper.

Didn't hear anything else since then.

Speculation was that it was either drugs dropped at sea before entering harbour, or abalone.

[Boet]

A while back, a Baron landed here. I drove out to the airfield to see who it was, before I got there Baron already took off, and the biggest smuggler in town turns out the gate and heads off north in a big cloud of dust. Baron does the "death before altitude' thing and heads straight AWAY from me to prevent ID. ?????? Nuttin is sacred anymore.

[Leprachaun]

Awhile back we did an anti-poaching operation in one of the local parks where poachers had been active and a few weeks later a microlighters was caught there and then of course the game rangers and assitants were the culprits .
This issue was duly reported to RAASA and CAA and the law must take its course.
I feel that all flying over any game parks should be banned till these issues are resolved, but then the people have their democratic rights and the baddies will get away .
I must add , that whoever is doing the flying , be sure your time is running out- there is justice ot there?? it may be jungle justice - who knows ??
Leprachaun

[nicow]

Bastards!!!
We are also looking for rhinos in the Potgietersrus Game breeding park,but cant see them from the air...I hope they are still here.

[Learjet]

I feel that all flying over any game parks should be banned

Sadly this sort of knee jerk Draconian response is exactly what government politicians and zealots feed off. And other than punishing the law abiding majority, prey tell how exactly will this petty regulation deter criminals who feel nothing to commit such cruel crimes? More laws and regulations will not make up for the absence of effective law enforcement in the first place. The government / SAPS in their wisdom, saw fit to disband the Endangered Species Protection Unit (ESPU). Perhaps it's time to bring it back...

[Morph]

I feel that all flying over any game parks should be banned

..

Sadly this sort of knee jerk Draconian response is exactly ........

Learned a bit from Avcom have we? Short quoting and then shooting back at the forum public who actually have their hearts in the right place and are trying to verbalize the horror they feel.

Instead of simply positioning your statement of support or disgust, attack one of your own.

What he did say

I feel that all flying over any game parks should be banned till these issues are resolved, but then the people have their democratic rights and the baddies will get away .

[Learjet]

not really ... just having a sense of deja vu. There was a time when recreational boats and divers weren't banned from certain coastal area and marine reserves. then the powers at be thought that blanket bans of recreational users would stop poaching. everyone knows it didn't, so I'm just surprised that any pilot would make a similar suggestion, thats all.

and nobody said their hearts weren't in the right place Morph, but so far this rhino poaching from a helicopter saga has been a highly emotional and sensational issue - and unfortunately as the facts stand at the moment it's one that's long on speculation and short on concrete evidence. so why am I sceptical? Because we very very nearly had the SAPS and CAA get away with introducing draconian airfield regulations based upon a unsubstantiated rumours about aircraft being used for smuggling. rumours which were retold so often that rather than being isolated incidents they were, the powers at be began to think every light aircraft taking off from an airfield was laden with perlemoen...

[Africa]

I have to agree with learjet here! Banning flying over a park for any amount of time will not fix the problem at hand. As learjet said to the goverment will find that the easiest solution and do it and then it will just hurt everyone. Instead maybe some $$$ needs to go towards some radar equipment that can see aircraft flying in certain areas and then ATC can request a reg and if atc is ignored then they can track that aircraft and send a police chopper after it.

[John Boucher]

The military have mobile radar systems that are serious stuff... this could be used?