By: Hertha Ekandjo
A horse unit will be deployed at Okaukuejo in the Etosha National Park to provide extra support to the anti-poaching unit in the country’s biggest park.
In the past five years, the country has recorded 289 cases of rhino poaching, with 92 killed last year.
Rhinos are part of the Big Five that get tourists from around the world to come and see them.
The horse unit was announced by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT)during the commemoration of the Word Rhino Day held at the Etosha National Parkon Friday .
The horses are domesticated and trained for patrolling.
Eight horses will be deployed in Etosha National Park, and five will be stationed in the Waterberg Plateau Park.
Environment Minister, Pohamba Shifeta, said, “horse mounted patrols will help us cover more patrol distances, give us the ability to carry more equipment than on foot patrol, provide superior off-road mobility and tracking ability compared to vehicles.”
The Minister said rangers on horseback can travel faster than foot patrols, yet more silently than vehicle patrols and provide superior visibility from the horseback vantage point.
According to him, with horses, rangers’ response time will be much shorter than on foot patrol.”I am sure we will pose an intimidating presence to would-be illegal actors,” he said.
Over the years, Shifeta said, the Ministry has observed horse mounted incursions into Etoshafor illegal activity and culprits managed to evade arrest due to superior speed and mobility through harsh terrain.
He further mentioned that a mounted patrol team would be on equal footing with horse mounted incursions and thus increase the potential for successful apprehension.
Shifeta emphasised that the use of a combination of horse unit, dog unit, air wing or helicopter and fixed wing patrols, foot patrols, CCTV, intelligence gathering and drones, will help the Ministry to improve and do more with the protection of rhinos from illegal activities.
This year rhino poaching declined to 39 rhinos compared to 92 in 2022, 50 in 2021, 47 in 2020 and 61 in 2019.
Shifetasaid the Ministry’s target is to have a population of black rhinos that continues to show a positive growth trend, sustainably utilised, contributing to the species conservation costs and to improved livelihoods.
The current black rhino population consists of geographically separated, isolated populations occurring within formally protected areas; as well as on communal and private land.
All black rhinos in Namibia remain the property of the state, and those occurring on private land, as well as some communal conservancies have been placed there under the black rhino custodianship programme and in some conservancies black rhino occurred naturally.
Despite being separated by space, the population is managed as a meta-population, through management interventions, to achieve the objectives of the Black Rhino Management Plan.
Aligned with Namibia’s incentive-based conservation paradigm, the national Rhino Custodianship Programme was established in 1993 to facilitate the recovery of the rhino population, while, at the same time, allowing conservancies and private landowners to become custodians over state-owned rhinos, the right to benefit through ecotourism.
The horse unit was enabled with funding support from the Game Product Trust Fund. The horse unit consists of 13 horses that were bought at the cost of N$130,000.
Horse Unit To Be Deployed To Combat Poaching In Etosha …as 289 rhinos poached in 5 years
