The Washington Post - 22.08.2019

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A

BY KATIE METTLER

In the name of conservation,
South Africa is adopting a policy
that will allow trophy hunters to
kill more — not fewer — endan-
gered black rhinos, a move that
has wildlife advocates split as
poaching concerns endure.
At the Convention on Interna-
tional Trade in Endangered Spe-
cies in Geneva, delegates from
countries across the globe voted
this week in favor of South Afri-
ca’s hunting proposal, which in-
creases slightly the annual num-
ber of game hunting permits
available to the public and nar-
rowly defines which black rhinos
can be hunted: older, agitated,
non-breeding males.
There are about 5,000 black
rhinos on the planet, and nearly
2,000 of them live in South Africa
— a steady increase in a popula-
tion decimated by poaching over
a 20-year period. From 1970 to
1992, the population decreased

from 65,000 across the African

continent to 2,300, a drop of

96 percent, according to statistics

from the International Rhino

Foundation.

South Africa allows five black

rhinos a year to be killed by

trophy hunters. The new policy

would change the math from a

set quota to a fixed 0.5 percent of

the black rhino population,

which under today’s numbers

would equate to nine adult males.

Though confounding on the

surface, South Africa’s logic is

based on precedent.

An uptick in hunting permits

helped the white rhino, too, ac-

cording to a report by the wildlife

trade monitoring organization

TRAFFIC.

Aging male rhinos can be terri-

torial and will interfere with

mating female rhinos and young-

er males, hindering population

growth. South African officials

argued that by allowing game

hunters to target only that prob-

lematic group of old males, the

policy had the potential to not

only increase the chances for

healthy reproduction but also

boost discretionary revenue.

Permits for black rhino trophy-

hunting are pricey and nearly

always purchased by foreigners,

according to the policy language.

It projects that additional rev-

enue from the sale of more per-

mits would generate funds that

could be applied to anti-poaching

and other wildlife conservation

measures.

Gabon and Kenya, as well as

the Born Free Foundation —

which spoke on behalf of nine

other wildlife conservation or-

ganizations — opposed the meas-

ure, raising concerns over poach-

ing challenges.

But they were outnumbered by

the policy’s supporters, which

included Canada, the European

Union and six African nations

that surround South Africa.

“On the face of it, increasing

the trophy hunting quota at a

time when poaching of rhinos in

South Africa is rampant might

seem a rash move, and clearly

curtailing indiscriminate poach-

ing must remain a conservation

priority,” Richard Thomas, a

spokesman for TRAFFIC, said in

a statement to The Washington

Post. “However, there are sound

biological reasons why careful,

selective removal of older, post-

breeding males — a process that

can also raise conservation funds

through selling the trophy hunt-

ing rights — enables younger,

more vigorous bulls to come

through and boosts overall

breeding success and productivi-

ty of a population.”

Thomas cited the population

recovery of the white rhino as

proof that this strategy can work.

In its study on rhinos in 2011,

TRAFFIC noted that the intro-

duction of sport hunting in South

Africa coincided with a steady

rise in white rhinos. In 1968,

when game hunting was intro-

duced, there were 1,800 white

rhinos in the nation. By 2011, the

population had swelled to more

than 18,000, according to the

report.

“Rather than hindering popu-

lation growth, trophy hunting is

regarded as having positively in-

fluenced White Rhino numbers

and population performance in

many direct and indirect ways,”

the report said.

But skeptics of the policy ar-

gued at CITES that there is no

demonstrable need for more

hunting permits, because in past

years even the smaller five-rhino

quota has not been met.

And poaching remains a criti-

cal problem.

Susan Lieberman, vice presi-

dent for international policy for

the Wildlife Conservation Soci-

ety, said in a statement that her

organization “remains con-

cerned about the impact of illegal

hunting of black rhinos and traf-

ficking in their horns.”

Save the Rhino, an anti-poach-

ing conservation organization,

wrote in a post on its website that

the key part of South Africa’s

proposal “is not the hunting it-

self, but the calculations based on

population size.”

Poaching makes the black rhi-

no population inconsistent,

which can make the percentage

system tricky, the post said.

“To increase confidence, more

regular updates on populations

need to be reported, with provin-

cial breakdowns, more prompt-

ly,” Save the Rhino wrote in the

post. “Not only would this help to

determine the population, but

also benefit overall biological

management.”

[email protected]

In disputed conservation move, South Africa expands black rhino hunt

WALDO SWIEGERS/BLOOMBERG NEWS

A black rhino, with horns preemptively removed to thwart

poachers, ambles across ranchland in South Africa in 2015.

Trophy count may grow,

but permits allow only

the killing of older males

BY LIZ SLY

beirut — Iranian-backed mili-
tias in Iraq warned Wednesday
that foreign aircraft flying over the
country may be treated as “hos-
tile” amid growing suspicions that
Israel is responsible for mysteri-
ous explosions at militia bases.
The warning came in a state-
ment issued by Abu Mahdi al-Mo-
handes, the deputy commander of
the powerful coalition of Shiite
Muslim militias known as Hashd
al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization
Forces (PMF), which includes
paramilitary groups that owe alle-
giance to Iran.
The statement blamed Israeli
drones for four big blasts at militia
bases over the past month, all of
them at warehouses storing am-
munition and weapons, and ac-
cused the U.S. military of aiding
the strikes by allowing Israel to

use U.S. bases in Iraq.

“We have informed the Joint

Operations Command that we will

regard any foreign aircraft flying

over our headquarters without the

knowledge of the Iraqi govern-

ment as hostile, and will deal with

it accordingly,” the statement said.

The U.S. military responded

by tweeting that it operates in Iraq

at the request of the Iraqi govern-

ment and complies with all Iraqi

laws and directions. The only pur-

pose for being in Iraq is “to enable

our Iraqi Security Force partners

in the mission of an enduring de-

feat of Daesh,” the military said,

using the Arabic acronym for the

Islamic State.

Israel has not confirmed or de-

nied responsibility for the attacks,

but during a visit to Ukraine this

week, Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu appeared to hint at

Israeli involvement, responding

to a reporter’s question about

whether it was behind the explo-

sions by saying that “Iran has no

immunity, anywhere.”

“We will act — and currently are

acting — against them wherever it

is necessary,” he said.

If confirmed, Israel’s involve-

ment would suggest it has opened

a new front in its ongoing fight to

prevent Iranian-backed militias in

the region from deploying sophis-

ticated weapons capable of target-

ing Israel. The explosions at the

militia bases in Iraq are reminis-

cent of those associated with

scores of airstrikes conducted by

Israel in Syria over the past five

years, which mostly targeted mis-

sile storage sites or suspected

transfers of weapons to the Leba-

nese Shiite Hezbollah movement.

Israeli airstrikes in Iraq could

complicate the U.S. effort to com-

bat a revived Islamic State insur-

gency there and risk drawing Iraq

into escalating hostilities between

the United States and Iran.

The militia statement was the

strongest indication to date that

Iraqis suspect Israel is behind the

explosions, including one Tuesday

at a militia base near an air base at

Balad, where U.S. forces maintain

a presence.

After the first alleged strike, on

July 19 at a Shiite base in the

northeastern town of Amerli, the

Iraqi army immediately said an

“unidentified drone” was respon-

sible. The PMF subsequently

claimed an accident had occurred,

while the government declined to

assign blame pending an investi-

gation.

Then came two more blasts at

weapons warehouses, one at

Camp Ashraf, a headquarters for

the powerful Badr Organization in

eastern Diyala province, and one

last week at Camp Saqr south of

Baghdad. The latter ignited a huge

blaze, sending rockets and bullets

exploding over densely populated

neighborhoods for up to five

hours.

Three days later, Iraqi Prime

Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi or-

dered that storage facilities for

weapons should be moved away

from residential areas and also

that all international flights over

Iraq should receive advance gov-

ernment approval, the first indica-

tion that the government suspect-

ed foreign involvement. The U.S.

military said it would comply with

all Iraqi government require-

ments and that the order would

not impact its ability to provide

support for missions against the

Islamic State.

One question is how Israel

would be able to attack targets so

far from its borders. Israel has not

struck Iraq since a 1981 mission to

bomb the Osirak nuclear reactor

constructed by former president

Saddam Hussein.

One possibility would be that

Israel was using its newest-model

drones. Another would be that the

strikes were carried out by recent-

ly acquired U.S.-made F-35 air-

craft, according to a report

Wednesday by the Middle East

Institute.

“Israeli intelligence has known

for more than a year that Iran had

begun deploying sophisticated

rocket and ballistic missile sys-

tems into Iraqi territory, some to

be based there permanently, oth-

ers to be dispatched by land to

Syria and Lebanon,” the report

added.

[email protected]

Mustafa Salim in Baghdad

contributed to this report.

After Iraq base blasts, militias’ threats to aircraft heighten speculation on Israel

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