Poachers for Dinner...

[Skeptic Ginger]

I'm not going to celebrate their deaths but as for the BS they are starving natives just trying to make a living, no, not buying that. They are looking for big bucks and they often hack off half the animal's face leaving it to die a painful death. Ivory poachers do the same to elephants.

These are ruthless land pirates (the bad kind), not the local villager feeding his family.

 

[RolandRat]

A lot of the responses to this thread are just flat out disgusting. They don't understand why poachers exist, or care for that matter. They put animal life above and beyond human life.

 

[Strawberry]

Karma.

 

[Polaris]

A lot of the responses to this thread are just flat out disgusting. They don't understand why poachers exist, or care for that matter. They put animal life above and beyond human life.

In this case, it is.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

A lot of the responses to this thread are just flat out disgusting. They don't understand why poachers exist, or care for that matter. They put animal life above and beyond human life.

OK, wait a minute, I get it. You really need to learn the rule about antecedents before pronouns.

In your sentence using typical grammar rules, the first "they" refers to 'a lot of responses' presumably people who posted in the thread. Not proper but marginally understandable.

But your second "they" refers back to the antecedent noun, "poachers". That makes it really confusing.

So figuring out what I think you mean, you seem to think all poachers are in the same boat, 'needy' humans.

For some poachers that is true. It's hard to get people to stop selling endangered primates in the bushmeat trade, for example. They've done it their whole lives.

But for other poachers, there is big money and they are not the least bit interested in anything except their greed.

The nobel savage myth and all that.

 

[Hungry81]

A lot of the responses to this thread are just flat out disgusting. They don't understand why poachers exist, or care for that matter. They put animal life above and beyond human life.

1. Humans are animals.
2. The inept ******* poachers are dead. Good. Hope it happens to more of them.

 

[smartcooky]

A lot of the responses to this thread are just flat out disgusting. They don't understand why poachers exist, or care for that matter.

These types of poachers, that is, those who poach for rhino horn and elephant ivory, are in it for one thing, and one thing only....The money. Massive amounts of money. They are not poor villagers living in grass huts trying to eke out a living for their families. They are well paid professional poachers who are well equipped with high powered rifles, expensive vehicles and sophisticated tracking and communications equipment.

They are also known and proven killers that can, and have, murdered Wildlife Rangers. Between 2009 and 2017, 740 rangers have died in the line of duty, most of them murdered by poachers, who will pretty much kill anyone who gets in their way. Diane Fossey was probably murdered by poachers.

They put animal life above and beyond human life.

"The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated"
- Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi -

 

[MikeG]

I think it's fairly obvious that the international news articles, and therefore we, deal with the former and not the latter; thus I think this digression tends to introduce rather than solve the conflation you are concerned about.

No, I was responding to a confusion between the two, with all poaching being lumped into one big group. It most certainly isn't that. Nor, of course, is as simplistic as smartcooky would like to think. Lots of people who have never set foot in Africa are pontificating without some basic understanding.

 

[PhantomWolf]

A lot of the responses to this thread are just flat out disgusting. They don't understand why poachers exist, or care for that matter. They put animal life above and beyond human life.

Poachers don't care for human life, they are more than willing to kill any rangers they see, even carrying hand grenades to use against them. If they don't care about human life, why should we care about theirs?

 

[Information Analyst]

The more likely reason, they say, is that the horn powder is increasingly seen as a cocaine-like party drug

Does rhino horn actually have any cocaine-like (or any other drug-like) effects? Otherwise that's got to be one hell of a placebo effect.

 

[Hungry81]

Poachers don't care for human life, they are more than willing to kill any rangers they see, even carrying hand grenades to use against them. If they don't care about human life, why should we care about theirs?

You see the rangers dont matter because they are trying to protect the endangered animals that the poachers who have families to feed need to kill otherwise they would be forced into some other form of crime. Of course the fact the Rangers also likely have families to feed doesnt matter, because they get in the way of the poor poachers. Why dont the rangers get a real job like the poachers and look after their families, instead of risking being maimed and killed defending mere animals?

 

[Darat]

Does rhino horn actually have any cocaine-like (or any other drug-like) effects? Otherwise that's got to be one hell of a placebo effect.

Probably find it is mixed with cocaine for a "better class" of highness.

 

[Wolrab]

Does rhino horn actually have any cocaine-like (or any other drug-like) effects? Otherwise that's got to be one hell of a placebo effect.

I don't have the money to experiment. Now ground up ostrich beak slipped into a drink makes you bend over and put your head head in the sand. Powdered armadillo scales can add two feet to your jump height (and possibly give you leprosy). A few elephant toe clippings and you'll never forget anything. Some dung beetle wing tea allows you to roll enormous balls of **** for miles.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Does rhino horn actually have any cocaine-like (or any other drug-like) effects? Otherwise that's got to be one hell of a placebo effect.

Rhino horns are made of keratin, the same thing that your fingernails are made of.

Sadly it's all placebo.

 

[MikeG]

Does rhino horn actually have any cocaine-like (or any other drug-like) effects? Otherwise that's got to be one hell of a placebo effect.

No. It is precisely the same stuff as your finger nails. It's not even placebo. It's just superstition.

There is a premium paid in Vietnam for wild-caught rhino horn, rather than farmed, which goes to show just how stupid this whole thing is. There is also some work underway (I can't remember where) to artificially grow "rhino horn" in the lab, with the idea of destroying the market for poached horn by flooding it with artificial stuff.

 

[MikeG]

You see the rangers dont matter because they are trying to protect the endangered animals that the poachers who have families to feed need to kill otherwise they would be forced into some other form of crime. Of course the fact the Rangers also likely have families to feed doesnt matter, because they get in the way of the poor poachers. Why dont the rangers get a real job like the poachers and look after their families, instead of risking being maimed and killed defending mere animals?

Rangers are often from the same village as the poachers. Sometimes the same family. Rangers often know who the poachers are, (we're generally talking bush-meat type poaching now), so will only shoot them if they absolutely have no choice. Rangers are often poachers themselves. Blue Lagoon National Park, Zambia, was just about poached out by the rangers stationed there 10 years ago.

 

[BrooklynBaby]

A lot of the responses to this thread are just flat out disgusting. They don't understand why poachers exist, or care for that matter. They put animal life above and beyond human life.

Not me. I don't put animal life above human life; I think this was simply lions serving up a little justice.

 

[smartcooky]

Rangers are often from the same village as the poachers. Sometimes the same family. Rangers often know who the poachers are, (we're generally talking bush-meat type poaching now), so will only shoot them if they absolutely have no choice.

Please stop falsely conflating meat poachers with rhino horn poachers. Poaching for the pot makes up a very small proportion of rhino poaching; less than 3%. No-one here is talking about bush meat poachers except you. The poachers killed by those lions were rhino horn poachers, and that is the only thing we should be talking about here. These three cut their way into a fenced off wildlife reserve to kill rhinos for their horn. Nothing else.

Rhino horn poachers are almost never spear-carrying local villagers living in grass huts trying to scratch out a living to feed their families. They are professional poachers employed almost exclusively by organized crime syndicates. They are extremely well paid and very well equipped with military type materiel. They have been seen carrying and using assault rifles such as the AK47, sometimes fitted with under-barrel grenade launchers such as the GP-25, or GP34. They have also been seen carrying RG-6's, Russian made 40 mm semi-automatic, six-shot revolver-type grenade launchers, as well as night vision goggles and helicopters. They come in from cities such as Polokwane (Pietersburg) and Mbombela (Nelspruit) and even from the larger cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria, as well as coming in across the border from Mozambique and Botswana.

Rangers are often poachers themselves. Blue Lagoon National Park, Zambia, was just about poached out by the rangers stationed there 10 years ago.

Again, NOT rhino horn poachers, and this certainly has not been not the case for at least 20 years.

Poaching rhino for the pot, while illegal, is sustainable. Poaching for horn at its current rates is not. The population of Black rhino has dropped 97.6% since 1960, the vast majority of this has been in the last 15 years

THIS is how serous the problem has gotten.

As you can see, the rangers have ben slowly getting on top of the situation, but they will have to be quicker if this endangered species is not to disappear with a human lifetime.

 

[MikeG]

......Again, NOT rhino horn poachers, and this certainly has not been not the case for at least 20 years........

Luckily, I can discount every you say on the subject because you evidently know sweet **** all about it. Many rhinos have been killed by the armed guards paid to protect them.

You might want to look back at the comments about gloating over poacher deaths. They were in general terms about poachers, not specifically about rhino poachers. It is to those people I was responding. I didn't instigate discussion of non-rhino poaching, but simply responded to it. Clearly, you don't want anyone bringing a little perspective into this vacuous discussion. You just want people who are prepared to rant. Well, tough luck.

Gotten? Really?

I'm incredulous that you think I don't know the stats on rhino poaching. I've been discussing this subject with people who know something about it for over 10 years.

 

[smartcooky]

Luckily, I can discount every you say on the subject because you evidently know sweet **** all about it. Many rhinos have been killed by the armed guards paid to protect them.

OK, that's a claim. How many? Provide evidence of the numbers known to be killed by guards and rangers?

You might want to look back at the comments about gloating over poacher deaths. They were in general terms about poachers, not specifically about rhino poachers.

Really? You have E.S.P.? It looked pretty clear to me that most people were responding to the OP, who quoted an article, in which it said...

"poachers "use the rifle to shoot the animal and the axe to remove the horn"

YOU were the person who confused the issue by bringing up poaching for the pot... no-one else... YOU!!!

It is to those people I was responding. I didn't instigate discussion of non-rhino poaching

Yes, you did. Posts #2 through #31 were all responding to Phantom Wolf's OP about rhino horn poachers. YOU introduced the conflation in post #32. Pretty much everyone was on the same page until then. I'm betting that when you mention "rhino poaching, the vast majority of people will immediately think "rhino horn". I'll bet most people won't have understood that rhino are also sometimes poached for the meat. This is quite understandable, given that the public face of rhino poaching are images like these...

Rhino carcasses (unbutchered) with just the horn(s) missing.

Gotten? Really?

Yes, really!

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/gotten

gotten
North American

past participle of get

Usage

As past participles of get, got and gotten both date back to Middle English. The form gotten is not used in British English but is very common in North American English. In North American English, got and gotten are not identical in use. Gotten usually implies the process of obtaining something, as in he had gotten us tickets for the show, while got implies the state of possession or ownership, as in I haven't got any money

What's the matter? The use of Americanisms beneath your class level are they?

I'm incredulous that you think I don't know the stats on rhino poaching. I've been discussing this subject with people who know something about it for over 10 years.

Firstly, why should you be incredulous? You have given ZERO indications that you knew the stats, Most posters here would have no idea what you do with your spare time.... and why should they?

Secondly, your conflation of bush meat poachers with rhino horn poachers tended to indicate that it is YOU who "evidently know sweet **** all about it".

Thirdly, are you so self-centred that you think I posted those stats purely for YOU? Just because I replied to your post does not mean I'm addressing everything I post to you personally. If I wanted to do that, I would send a PM, not post it in a public forum where anyone can see it.