2/8/14

Prehistoric




White Rhinoceros. Pen and Ink on 14"x17" Paris Paper.

I was so delighted to finally find a pen, ink and paper combination that makes me feel as if I am drawing with charcoal or pencil. It is an expensive and tedious combination but quite satisfying. However, while I am excited to talk about drawing, my mind is heavy with the thought that the cruel murders of these descendants of prehistoric animals continue today to meet the insatiable desire for rhino horn, through ignorant medicine and superstitious beliefs. I pray to God that such people will one day wake up and believe that cockroaches  have the same power if not more and also realize that cockroaches are a source of protein. (Cockroach Farming)



Curse be unto nations and people
who selfishly slaughter and maim
majestic animals
tendered to their care.
Woe to the guardians chosen by God
to protect them
but instead deliver them as bounties.
Anyone who thinks that the rhino horn
will cure their cancer and other ailments
are fools who hasten not only the demise
of the rhinos but theirs.
One cannot choose to live
through the death of another.
Of king or man who uses its horn
as drinking cup
they ingest the elixir of death
borne though generations of their children's children.
The horn will not lead you to heaven.
Curse be to the selfish cruel being
that is human who scalps a rhino
Death and destruction
is your only legacy.
Murderer of humanity.
Go to hell!




Excerpts from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_rhinoceros
    Illegal poaching for the international rhino horn trade is the main and most detrimental threat.[2] The killing of these animals is not unique to modern day society. The Chinese have maintained reliable documents of these happenings dating back to 1200 B.C.[59] The ancient Chinese often hunted rhino horn for the making of wine cups as well as the rhino's skin to manufacture imperial crowns and belts and armor for soldiers.[59] A major market for rhino horn has historically been in the Middle East nations to make ornately carved handles for ceremonial daggers called jambiyas. Demand for these exploded in the 1970s causing the black rhinoceros population to decline 96% between 1970 and 1992. The horn is also used in traditional Chinese medicine, and is said by herbalists to be able to revive comatose patients, facilitate exorcisms and various methods of detoxification,[59] cure fevers, and aid male sexual stamina and fertility.[60] It is also hunted for the superstitious belief that the horns allow direct access to heaven due to their unique location and hollow nature.[59]The purported effectiveness of the use of rhino horn in treating any illness has not been confirmed or even suggested by medical science. In June 2007, the first-ever documented case of the medicinal sale of black rhino horn in the United States (confirmed by genetic testing of the confiscated horn) occurred at a traditional Chinese medicine supply store in Portland, Oregon's Chinatown.[60] With rhino horn selling for nearly US$30,000 per pound, it has been argued that legalization of trade would allow horn from captive-bred rhinos to reduce the price and thus the incentive for poaching. However, most doubt that this would be successful in reducing the number of rhinos killed.[61]

  • Southern black rhinoceros or Cape rhinoceros (D. b. bicornis) – Extinct. Excessive hunting and habitat destruction around 1850.[13]
  • North-eastern black rhinoceros (D. b. brucii) – Extinct. Relict populations in northern Somalia vanished during the early 20th century.
  • Chobe black rhinoceros (D. b. chobiensis) – Nearly extinct, possibly only one surviving specimen in Botswana.[12]
  • Uganda black rhinoceros (D. b. ladoensis) – Black rhinos are considered extinct across most of this area and its conservational status is unclear. Probably surviving in Kenyan reserves.
  • Western black rhinoceros (D. b. longipes) – Extinct. Once lived in South Sudan, northernCentral African Republic, southern Chad, northern Cameroon, northeastern Nigeria and south-eastern Niger. The range possibly stretched west to the Niger River in western Niger, though this is unconfirmed. The evidence from Liberia and Burkina Faso mainly rests upon the existence of indigenous names for the rhinoceros.[4] A far greater former range in West Africaas proposed earlier[14] is doubted by a 2004 study.[4] The last known wild specimens lived in northern Cameroon. In 2006 an intensive survey across its putative range in Cameroon failed to locate any, leading to fears that it was extinct in the wild.[6][15] On November 10, 2011 theIUCN declared the western black rhinoceros extinct.[6]
  • Eastern black rhinoceros (D. b. michaeli) – Had a historical distribution from South Sudan,Ethiopia, down through Kenya into north-central Tanzania. Today, its range is limited primarily to Tanzania.
  • South-central black rhinoceros (D. b. minor) – Most widely distributed subspecies, characterised by a compact body, proportionally large head and prominent skin-folds. Ranged from north-eastern South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal) to northeastern Tanzania and southeastern Kenya. Preserved in reserves throughout most of its former range but probably extinct in eastern Angola, southern Democratic Republic of Congo and possibly Moçambique. Extinct but reintroduced in MalawiBotswana, and Zambia.
  • South-western black rhinoceros (D. b. occidentalis) – A small subspecies, adapted to survival in desert and semi-desert conditions. Originally distributed in north-western Namibia and southwestern Angola, today restricted to wildlife reserves in Namibia with sporadic sightings in Angola. These populations are often erroneously referred to D. b. bicornis or D. b. minor but represent a subspecies in their own right.[12]









7 comments:

Rick Forrestal said...

This is soooo sad.
I hate everything about the poachers, the ruthless slaughter of God's "grandest beasts", and especially the idiotic notion that black rhino horns hold mystical or medical powers.
Damn!

Bella Sinclair said...

Oh. So heartbreaking. Vietnam and China are stained in the blood of the innocent. Very powerful and moving illustration.

steveroni said...

I saw those photos yesterday...surprised that God didn't strike dead those head-chopping scum of humanity.

There am I, judge and jury...(sigh)

steveroni said...

I saw those photos yesterday...surprised that God didn't strike dead those head-chopping scum of humanity.

There am I, judge and jury...(sigh)

steveroni said...

I saw those photos yesterday...surprised that God didn't strike dead those head-chopping scum of humanity.

There am I, judge and jury...(sigh)

Ces Adorio said...

Most of the people on earth are unfazed. Governments which have the power to curb the slaughter and extinction of animals, hasten their demise instead.

Rod MacGregor said...

Yep...It fazed me...Good work though Ces!