The narrator discusses the fight against poachers, highlighting the dangers and challenges faced by those who work to protect wildlife. They mention the case of David Junior from Missouri, who was sentenced to a year in prison and required to watch the cartoon Bambi every month after illegally hunting deer for three years. The narrator emphasizes the low pay and dangerous conditions faced by rangers, noting that in 2018, a ranger in Uganda earned $170 a month.
The narrator also discusses the devastating impact of poaching on animal populations, particularly white rhinos, whose horns are highly valued on the black market. They mention a case where poachers broke into the French Zoiloo zoo near Paris and shot a four-year-old white rhino, severing its horn. They also discuss efforts to protect rhinos from poaching, such as dyeing the horns pink, which makes them useless as decoration and difficult to smuggle.
The narrator then discusses the use of animals in fighting poaching, such as vultures that are used to locate dead elephants, and giant rats of the Gambia that can climb to difficult-to-access places. They also mention the use of smart devices, such as a rhino alarm and a system that predicts poaching, and the use of technology to create fake rhino horns to flood the market and reduce their value for poachers.
The narrator concludes by discussing the use of dehorning as a method to protect rhinos, noting that it was the most effective method used by Namibia between 1989 and 1992, during which not a single rhino was poached. They also discuss the use of a patch made from elephant skin to treat wounds caused by poachers, and the fact that even if a rhino loses its horn, it can still survive. The narrator ends by expressing hope that despite the challenges faced by wildlife conservation, there are still ways to protect animals and ensure their survival.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
- 1. David Junior from Missouri was sentenced to a year in prison with a special condition to watch the cartoon Bambi every month for hunting deer illegally for three years.
- 2. In the last 15 years, 160 rangers have died protecting the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from poachers.
- 3. White rhinos are the most valuable animals on the black market, and their parts are worth more than gold.
- 4. In 2017, poachers broke into the French Zoili zoo near Paris and killed a four-year-old white rhino and cut off its horn.
- 5. To protect rhinos from poachers, conservationists inject poison into their horns, which is harmless to the animals but toxic to anyone who ingests it.
- 6. The poison also dyes the horns pink, making them useless as a decoration and detectable by scanners at airports.
- 7. In areas where rhino horns were dyed pink, the animal mortality rate was drastically reduced in five years.
- 8. Vultures help rangers find poachers by flying towards dead elephants, but poachers also poison the carcasses to kill the birds.
- 9. Scientists propose to flood the market with fake rhino horns made with horse hair, silk and cellulose to cause confusion and a drop in prices.
- 10. Conservationists use smart devices such as WiFi, thermal cameras, scanners, security cameras and sensors to monitor the perimeter of the reserve and alert rangers of any suspicious activity.
- 11. The most reliable way to protect rhinos from poachers is to cut off their horns, which grow back over time and do not affect their survival or behavior.
- 12. Elephants suffer from poaching as well, as they lose their tusks, which are made of ivory and very expensive on the black market.
- 13. Dyeing elephant tusks pink is not feasible or effective, as they are huge teeth that are embedded inside the skull and grow around 2.5 centimeters per year.
- 14. The United States destroys its illicit ivory reserves instead of selling them to send a message to clients, sellers and suppliers that it is not something that is worth commercially.
- 15. Evolution is making many elephants reject their tusks at a genetic level, as they are more likely to survive without them.
- 16. Two 4-year-old gorillas were working together to dismantle poacher's traps in Volcanoes National Park of Rwanda in 2012.
I hope this helps you with your task. 😊