Meet the all-female militia hunting African Rhino poachers

THE PLAID ZEBRA JUNE 4, 2015

BY: JACK M.

The seemingly unquenchable demand for rhino horn as a folk medicine, especially in East Asia, has put the African rhino on top of the hit list of poachers, placing one of the planet’s most magnificent animals on the endangered species list. And perhaps even more odious than the slaughter of rhinos for so-called “medicinal” reasons is the killing of elephants for little more than a tusk trophy, a trinket to dangle obscenely over some fireplace.

Government agencies and international organizations like CITES and the African Wildlife Foundation are all doing their bit to protect the rhino and the elephant populations. But despite their best efforts, the rhino population of Africa has dropped by 96 per cent in the past 50 years, due almost exclusively to the greed of the poachers and the ignorance of those who purchase their kill.

Sometimes, however, it seems that the good guys are fighting a losing battle, but things may be about to change in favour of the rhinos and the elephants. A homegrown band of tough and well-trained rangers is combing the badlands of Balule Nature Reserve, one of the many private reserves in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. They’re formidable, they’re tenacious, and they mean business. Oh,by the way, they are all women. They are the Black Mambas.

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