Story by Rebecca West
In January 2024, we did a story about a study examining the size of rhinoceros horns from 1862 to 2018. The analysis determined that the horns of five rhino species had shrunk during that time frame. The theory is that since hunters/poachers have historically preferred more prominent horns and target animals in possession of them, smaller-horned rhinos have been overlooked and survive to pass along what’s becoming an evolutionary trait.
Sadly, with today’s poachers, even that protection is not enough, but we’ll loop back around to that momentarily.
At any rate, that story eventually brought us into the path of director John Jurko II when he appeared at the Arizona International Film Festival in connection to his 2024 film Rhino Man. The documentary, which is engrossing and heartbreaking in its scope, outlines the Herculean efforts of the incredibly brave field rangers who routinely risk their lives to protect and save what’s left of the dwindling rhino populations in South Africa.
Before we dive in, here’s some background to chew on. Big game hunting on the “Dark Continent,” as it was termed in the 19th Century, started with European settlers and explorers drawn to its exotic wildlife for scientific research and the thrill of the kill. It soon evolved into a popular tourism activity that, in time, became known as trophy hunting, a so-called “sport” in which parts of an animal are kept for display. The mind-bending industry still — inexplicably — generates revenue for vast swaths of Africa today.
Prior to the 18th Century, it’s estimated there were more than half a million rhinos in existence worldwide. They have since been decimated to approximately 27,000. Of the five species of Asian and African rhinoceros remaining today, three are critically endangered.
The horns are sought for their supposed medicinal qualities. The demand is predominantly driven by Asian countries, particularly Vietnam and China, where it’s been traditionally used as a fever reducer. While it does have some medicinal properties for that use, large quantities are needed, and it’s no more effective than aspirin. Other reasons include its use as a purported hangover cure. Neither is an acceptable excuse for extinction.
A common misconception is that rhino horns are made of bone. They’re not. Instead, they are composed primarily of keratin, the same protein that makes up human hair and nails. They grow continuously throughout the animals’ lifetime, with the horns sprouting from the skin on the bridge of the nose. Interestingly enough, they are not attached to the underlying bone.
Consumers pay up to $20,000 per kg for the powder on the black market, making it one of the highest-priced commodities available. While the driving force behind Africa’s poaching problem is poverty, that doesn’t exonerate or excuse the fact that the industry is greed-driven, with rhinos being systematically destroyed at a rate of 1-2 a day. As to the human toll, on average, 140 rangers die each year trying to protect them, with more than 40 percent of deaths attributed to homicide. Well-armed, poaching has, in effect, become akin to organized crime.
According to the film, between 2008 and 2012, the problem skyrocketed. Kruger National Park alone lost more than 8,000 rhinos to poaching between 2011 and 2020. As part of the job, rangers regularly search for and rescue injured rhinos and orphans, both of which are typically traumatized. In one nightmare scenario at a rhino orphanage, team members were viciously assaulted by poachers who then went on to kill two young calves for the scanty buds that had recently started to grow.
To help combat the relentless violence and the fallout accompanying it, the Southern African Wildlife College offers field ranger training to boost the number of rangers on the ground. It consists of an exhaustive five-day selection process followed by a rugged six-week training course. Ideally, the qualities that make a good ranger are honesty, loyalty, determination, and teamwork. They also need to be physically and emotionally strong to make it.
Of the 41 applicants highlighted in the film, only 16 qualified — 10 dropped out within the first 24 hours. One of the most respected and admired instructors, Martin Mthembu, was a training ranger for 23 years before he lost his life at the age of 46 in a 2014 automobile accident. Sorely missed, he had trained approximately 15,000 rangers during his career.
Another integral figure who had devoted his life to the cause was Anton Mzimba, aka Rhino Man. Head of Ranger Services at Timbavati Private Nature Preserve on the western boundary of Kruger, the soft-spoken ranger was murdered at his home — in broad daylight, no less — in 2022, demonstrating that rangers face the threat of death regardless of where they happen to be. His family was also attacked but fortunately survived.
Rangers, who can be gone from home for as much as a month at a time on duty, are also subject to disinformation campaigns launched against them by poachers to disrupt, intimidate, and discourage them from performing their jobs. The accusations can result in breakdowns in trust and respect, leading locals and the authorities to believe they are in league with criminals with nefarious intent.
For his own part, Mzimba believed that it was not too late and that there was still hope to make a difference. He also felt that to bring about change, we must inspire today’s youth to protect wildlife from continuing harm. His final recorded words were, “What I’m doing, I’m not doing for my own sake. I’m doing this for the world, for my children, so that one day, when I hang my boots, they are going to enjoy the wildlife.”
Mzimba was posthumously awarded an African Conservation Award and an IUCN International Ranger Award. For more information, visit rhinomanthemovie.org. As to social media, you can find Rhino Man – The Movie and Podcast at www.youtube.com/@
Hosted by Jurko, the conservation podcast is about rangers, rhinos, and what we can do to stop the poaching crisis. Also, there’s https://unitedforwildlife.org/
