Following the brutal assaults and killings of rhinos in the Kariega Conservative in the past month, a talk was held at the Rhodes University General Lecture theatre on Wednesday 28 March. The talk was organised by the Oppidan Press, Dean of Students, and RU Green Society.
Following the brutal assaults and killings of rhinos in the Kariega Conservative in the past month, a talk was held at the Rhodes University General Lecture theatre on Wednesday 28 March. The talk was organised by the Oppidan Press, Dean of Students, and RU Green Society.
Wildlife veterinarian Dr William Fowlds spoke to a lecture theatre packed with worried community members and students, in an effort to educate and highlight rhino poaching. Fowlds said the talk goes beyond the challenges that the rhinos are faced with, “It is not just about one species; but at the moment the rhino is in a crisis.
Fowlds presented an educational talk about the different rhinos and the market value of horns; he explained the various legal and illegal uses of the rhino horn is used for, and the staggering statistics of convictions related its poaching.
The brutal and bloody images of assaulted rhinos had members of the audience continuously gasping, shaking their heads in dismay, and shedding tears of distress.
Fowlds urged everyone to take a firm stand against the poaching of animals, and create awareness in South Africa and abroad.
“Even though we have been fighting this fight for a long time, so many people that I talk to just in my walk of life, do not know what actually goes on” Fowlds said.
“Kariega’s facebook presence has gone from 2 000 visitors to 45 000, and according to the Facebook figures if every person who has been on that site during that time had to share the story with just the people on their friend list, we would be reaching 950 000 people, so you can imagine the potential that we have through social media in creating awareness.”
The wild-life vet challenged listeners not to be apathetic and start with something small on a daily basis. “We think we need to do so much, and that’s not the answer the answer is to do little bits every single day,” Fowlds said.
