[chessplayer]

Africa’s main fame and pride comes from it’s wildlife. You would think the govts would go to extreme and brutal lengths to maintain and protect it. The park rangers who helped these poachers were poorly paid. They need to pay them enough so they are living high on the hog,,,and they need many more of them. There are too few rangers and too many poachers. Not only that, but they should be paid a big bonus for every poacher they find and gun down.

[kimtom]

“..are too few rangers and too many poachers. ...”

I am sure politics has a role.
But you are right.

[piasa]

Tragedy of the commons. If no one owns it it won't get taken care of, and no one will care if it successfully reproduces. If a species is owned, then there is an incentive to protect and breed it so long as its offspring are also your property to do with as you please. There's an incentive to hire good staff to protect and keep the stock. That's why horses, chickens, cows, pigs, dogs, cats, turkeys, geese, water buffalo, and so on are abundant. And game farms work similarly well - note the native prairie chicken is rare while the exotic pheasant is not... you can own and raise pheasant legally.

Maybe they should sell rhino credits instead of trying to push those bogus carbon credits.