'It’s a bloody calamity.' Poachers are encroaching on land and killing rhinos, as the coronavirus pandemic crushes tourism to Africa.
In Botswana, at least six rhinos have been poached since the virus shut down tourism there. In the northwest South Africa, at least nine rhinos have been killed since the virus lockdown.
But since the country announced a national lockdown in March to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Tate is stuck in the U.S. He can't join his team out in South Africa's wilderness and can't meet with private donors in the U.S. for his anti-poaching nonprofit organization, which is seeing donations dry up., a group of American military veterans who fight poachers in a remote private reserve in the far north of South Africa.
"The poachers have been emboldened because the playing field is in their favor and they won't have as many problems moving around," said Ives, who has lived on the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana for four decades but is stranded in South Carolina due to travel restrictions. File photos of a cloth covering the eyes of tranquilised rhino is used by rangers to keep the animal calm during a large scale anti-poaching campaign launched in Kruger National Park in South Africa.Since Botswana's booming tourism industry collapsed because of the virus lockdown, Ives has seen an anecdotal rise in rhino and bush meat poaching incidents. His company is running short of cash as donations dry up amid the global lockdown, and that may result in reduced patrols as a result.
Africa received 62.5 million visitors, creating 9.1 million direct jobs in travel and tourism sectors in 2015, according to estimates from the African Development Bank. "There's a lot of people struggling in Africa, a lot of private reserves that have helped save a few species including rhinos," said Tate. "Now they don't have that ecotourism they depend on, it's gone. There's going to be a lot of damage done from this."
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