Rhino Wars

INTRODUCTION

Peter Gwin, the award-winning staff writer at National Geographic magazine is the author that we chose to criticize based on his great article, “Rhino Wars”. The piece of writing from the March issue of the National Geographic Magazine examines the current state of rhinos & rhino poaching in South Africa and other regions. His writing gives the reader an insight of rhino poaching for their horns and how it jeopardizes the species that are facing extinction.

SUMMARY

“Rhino Wars” is mainly about the poaching of these animals and the risk of extinction the species faces due to their horns. He starts off by writing about Damien Mander, a former Australian Special Forces sniper who is in the jungle working on thwarting illegal poaching of rhinos. He then explains about the statistics of rhino poaching, consisting of the numbers of rhinos killed throughout the years and the poachers that were caught. He also goes into the value of the horns of the creature in the black market, and how the high profitability rate of this illegal syndicate has led many parties to join in. Besides that, he describes about Gideon Van Deventor, an expert in rhino poaching, and how he got into the trade. Gwin then continues on to the market of the rhinos’ horns, especially in Vietnam. He also explicates about the medicinal value of the horns and how this augmented the demand for them. The next part of the article is about John Hume, an entrepreneur who owns rhino herds and how he suggests prying the horns without killing the animal. In addition, he gives explanations about the resistance that may be faced by inhibiting the illegal poaching. To sum it up, this article gives us an understanding of illegitimate rhino poaching, the importance of their horns, and how because of this, these poor beasts are facing the hazard of extermination.

ANALYSIS OF PRESENTATION

Gwin starts off by writing about Damien Mander, expressing him as a hard-muscled ex-Australian Special Forces sniper with imposing eclectic mixture of body ink. Based on this expression, there is an indication of positively slanted language, which is one of the elements of the article. He is trying to give the reader an idea of how tough Damien is, and how he is suited for the job. Another example of slanted language in this item is when Hume explains about how the Vietnamese people pry the horn of the animal off and letting it live, but the South African law states that the poor animals be killed and take the horns as trophies. This shows that the Vietnamese are considerate about the issue of rhino extinction, but the South Africans could not care less about it. Besides, the part about Damien expressing his disappointment in the people who are willing to kill these interesting animals just for the money and medicinal benefits without taking the situation of the rhinos into account.

The second element of this piece is about the purpose or intent of the writer. Throughout the article, Gwin just relates the opinions of different people to the readers. He basically informs the readers about the threat of annihilation faced by the rhinos, and how this is due to their extremely valuable horns. He also describes the situation of the market of illegal poaching and the worth of the horns, profitably and medicinally. Based on this, we can say that Gwin’s intent is for the readers to know more about this issue.

Another element in Gwin’s piece is clarity. He was concise, making the main points of the article very clear, thus easy for the reader to grasp the idea of the article. He wrote about how the rhinos were compromised by poachers for their valuable horns. Besides, the danger of extinction of rhinos and the ignorance of the poachers were also portrayed very clearly in the item. In addition, he made clear transitions between paragraphs. For instance, he eased the readers into the market of rhino horns in Vietnam from the paragraph about Gideon Van Deventor, as in paragraph 2 in page 3.

Yet another element used by Gwin is the article’s appropriateness to the audience. This article was written in a very clear and interesting manner, in such a way that the audience would be hooked to the article. We, as the readers of Gwin’s piece of writing, got the message he was trying to send through to the society about rhino poaching and the danger of them being annihilated. For instance, when he wrote about what Hume and Damien said about the rhinos being killed merely for their horns, we, as readers could understand their anger, and realise how selfish and inhumane people can be when it comes to profit-making.

Peter Gwin gave a lot of information about the whole Rhino Wars, such as the value of the horns and how this affected their species, thus pushing them to the brink of extinction. The article helps to open the readers’ minds to the whole situation of rhinos and illegal poaching. This could probably increase their awareness, thus causing them to cut down purchases of rhino materials and boycott other illegal animal products as well. In addition, Gwin’s writing may also motivate the readers to take part in the effort to save the rhinos through NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) such as WWF (World Wildlife Fund).

RESPONSE TO THE PRESENTATION

We think that “Rhino Wars” by Peter Gwin is in fact a pretty interesting piece of writing. He wrote about the main reason for rhino poaching and the worth of their horns. Besides, he explained how this demand for the horns has put the rhinos in danger for extermination. This point was explicated by Damien and John Hume in the article, as Gwin wrote what they told him about the danger faced by the beasts.

The motive that made us choose this item is because Gwin wrote the article in story-like manner, which caught our attention. He managed to explain the danger faced by rhinos based on a few different people’s thoughts about the topic, making it a fascinating read. The technique in which he wrote this article was simple to understand and very mind-opening. Since many of us may not be aware of the grave situation of the rhinos, this article actually helps the society to gain knowledge of rhino poaching, and this probably will ignite the spirit of the people to help to save the rhinoceroses.

CONCLUSION

In a nutshell, we would say that this article is indeed a great read. It is not boring, and it has a lot of useful information about the current situation of the fauna of Earth. We would recommend people to read this piece of writing and hopefully help them to open their minds to the situation. With any luck, these readers may try to help the poor rhinos from the severe danger they are facing, indirectly maintaining the balance of the ecosystem.