THE TRAGEDY CONTINUES

Blackie was a giraffe who lived on a game ranch in Matabeleland. Through the years he became very attached to the game rancher and his family who affectionately regarded him as a pet. When tourists came to the game ranch on photographic safaris, the game rancher would call him by his name and Blackie would come gamboling through the trees and allow the humans to pet him.

Shortly after elections in March 2002, the game rancher and his family woke up one morning and were heart broken to discover that Blackie had fallen victim to the poachers. He was found strangled to death with a wire snare around his neck.

In 1987, ten Black Rhino were moved onto Gourlays Ranch in Matabeleland in a government attempt to halt the extinction of the species. The ranch owner, Richard Pascall, a Black Rhino expert successfully bred these rhino at the highest rate of any rhino project on private game farms in the nation. In April 2002, there were 40 Black Rhino on Gourlays Ranch.

In an attempt to frighten the Pascall family off their land, war vets hacked the legs of their pet horses with a panga. Their injuries were so severe that they had to be put down.

During the week before Easter 2002, the Pascall family were driven off their ranch amid death threats by war vets. Richard fought till the bitter end, almost losing his life in the process. He was not prepared to give up his beloved rhino without a fight. The Black Rhino are now at the mercy of the war vets, who claim to be their new owners, and their condition is not known as nobody is allowed anywhere near Gourlays Ranch. We do know that war vets are not qualified to look after rhino and they are not watering them because there is no fuel to run the pumps and they do not have the funds to maintain the fences.