Dominic Smithers
Published 15:04, 01 November 2021 GMT
| Last updated 15:09, 01 November 2021 GMT
Ricky Gervais says he wants to ‘f***ing batter’ poachers after seeing photos of a dehorned rhino.
The comedian, who is an outspoken advocate for animal rights, took to Twitter today (1 November) to share an article about a mutilated Southern White Rhino.
The horrific photos of the injured rhino were taken in North West Province in South Africa five years ago and show the animal weeping.
Sharing the story, Ricky wrote: “Devastating. I go from wanting to cry, to wanting to f***ing batter the c***s who did this.”
Since posting the tweet, it has been liked more than 18,000 times, with thousands of people piling into the comments to offer their support.
One user said: “That’s exactly the way I feel Ricky when I see this or any cruelty to animals… sometimes I really don’t know how I’ve managed not to SCREAM at some of the people I’ve had to deal with.”
The harrowing images were captured by British director and photographer Simon Needham, who witnessed the rhino being saved by wildlife charity Saving the Survivors.
Commenting on Ricky’s post, the organisation said: “Thank you for your passion @rickygervais and for sharing this story of our work. Sadly Seha is just one of the many Rhinos we have treated, however, many like Seha are saved from their injuries by our Vets. Thank you for your support!”
They also revealed that Seha has since had a son and is doing very well.
Talking about the photographs, Simon, who has worked with a number of similar charities in the past, said: “When I heard about @savingthesurvivors within the community and after hearing what they do I offered my time to photograph the rhino to help promote their need to raise money.”
“Saving the Survivors are a team of wildlife vets whose mission is to save every animal who has fallen victim to poaching or traumatic incidents.
“Poachers butchered the rhino’s horns and removed parts of the bone in his skull as well,” Simon says.
“The owners of the game reserve left him for dead for two weeks as he wasn’t worth a bullet to put him down, not without his horns.
“The police noticed him and called Saving the Survivors to help him.”
South Africa, which is home to the majority of the world’s rhino population, has been hit by a poaching epidemic over recent years, with more than 1,000 rhinos killed each year between 2013 and 2017.Related video:https://www.ladbible.com/jw-iframe.html?videoId=null&autoplay=false&isNielsenEnabled=false&title=Ricky%20Gervais%20Wants%20To%20Fg%20Batter%20Rhino%20Poachers%20&description=The%20comedian%20said%20he%20was%20disgusted%20by%20the%20images%20of%20the%20mutilated%20animal%20&platform=Web
Last year, there were 394 incidents recorded in the country and on average, a rhino is killed for its horn every 22 hours.
The latest numbers show that rhino populations, particularly in key strongholds such as Kruger National Park, in South Africa, have fallen dramatically.
Rhino populations have had no time to recover from ruthless poaching that’s taken place throughout the last decade
“It’s devastating to see animals abused this way by humans for profit,” said Simon.
“I just wanted to capture some clear, honest and factual shots of the tragedy going on in Africa in regards to poaching
“It’s sad people can’t believe we still do this to animals in this day and age. Until humans stop wanting rhino horn this will go on and on.
“The world’s wildlife population is under heavy attack from the human population and the plight of these intelligent, emotional, sentient beings needs to be highlighted and the wildlife protected.”
Exposing the Big Game 
Reblogged this on Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting Blog.
Not sure what Gervais means by ‘batter but seems that most people who empathize w/ this kind of pain done to animals, would rather opt for all apprehended rhino poachers to be sentenced to having some of ‘their’ body parts amputated, e.g. an arm, etc.. The factions fighting in Sudan right now do this to some of the human populace, so it’s apparently not out of the ordinary in ‘African’ culture. And might give a potential rhino poacher second thoughts. Since China too, refuses to crack down on ‘traditional medicine,’ they could farm rhinos for horn, same way they farm tigers for their bones & that might help save ‘wild’ species from poaching, but maybe not. The more sure way is for African country’s courts to impose ‘Fear of God’ sentencing for every poacher caught. But at the rate African Govt’s. are auctioning off captured ‘wild’ elephants, (to zoos, etc.) it’s not likely they’re that concerned w/ rhinos. This rhino was poached on a “Game Reserve” (must be South Africa) where they’re in the business of killing ‘wild’ African animals anyway, so nobody really gives a damn. One would think, would be a lot ‘easier’ for poachers to remove the horn off a dead animal, by shooting him first, even if they had to use a silencer gun. Must be a whole gang to hold a live animal down while mutilating him. The photographer means well to raise money for ‘Saving the Survivors’ but it’s also throwing money into a bottomless pit, when there’s no money to buy drones & everything else needed to fight off more & more poaching….going on for decades.
Between continuous poaching, free lance trophy hunting, game preserves captive hunting, tourist industries, expanding locals spreading out further & further into wildlife habitat & killing the animals they come in conflict with, the bush meat trade wherever there’s resource development & the increasing habit of greedy govt. officials auctioning off captured wildlife for extra income, it’s hard to imagine African wildlife surviving far into the future. Especially when the continent’s human population is projected to double within the next three decades, going from 1.3 to 2.5 billion.
Chinese traditional medicine may be traditional but it is not medicine. I don’t even like the farming of animals to be used for their bogus shit. I absolutely call for the torture and execution of poachers; really no great loss, whereas the animals they poach have far more worth.
I understand how maddening it can be, because nothing, absolutely nothing, seems to be able to stop the more negative human behaviors.
Did this animal live through the ordeal? That’s the important thing.
^^and despite what humans claim in polls, ultimately it looks like they care for humans first and won’t acknowledge any wrongdoing. Poachers are routinely defended as ‘poor and only wanting to feed their families’.
And how else can you account for the evens of WI, where an emergency rule had been in place for 9 years and nobody did anything about it? Nobody cared, except for a very few.
It’s so common how those in authority (govt. politicians) do the opposite of thinking ahead or really caring about the good of the populace & the country, since when the animals are gone, so will be the tourist trade. No tourists will be coming to look at the ‘poor only wanting to feed their families.’
The rhino did survive and lived to have an offspring…..thanks to Saving the Survivors..but not sure if they were taking about two different rhinos as one is referred to as”he”.