Ex Sniper in Iraq now battling rhino poachers in Africa

NeverSayGoodBye

6 May 13, 21:20

Damien served as a Clearance Diver in the Royal Australian Navy before transferring to a Special Operations unit within the Australian Army. Following the completion of military service he was employed by a Private Military Organisation tasked with retraining the future police of Iraq.

Damien eventually moved to the position of Project Manager, overseeing daily operations of the Iraq Special Police Training Academy in Baghdad. He returned home to Australia from Iraq in 2008 after three years service.

Arriving in Africa at the beginning of 2009, the intention was to apply his background skills to wildlife protection and conservation. After traveling the southern half of the continent he came to rest in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

It was in Zimbabwe that he received a first-hand look at the devestation poaching was having on the wildlife population. Incensed by the lack of resources made available to combat the problem he founded the ‘International Anti Poaching Foundation’ (IAPF), designed to counteract the bloodshed through assertive action and specialist training.

Damien, a hard-muscled former Australian Special Forces sniper with an imposing menagerie of tattoos, including "Seek & Destroy" in gothic lettering across his chest, swiveled his head, trying to place the direction of the shot. "There, near the eastern boundary," he pointed into the blackness. "Sounded like a .223," he said, identifying the position and caliber, a habit left over from 12 tours in Iraq. He and his rangers grabbed shotguns, radios, and medical kits and piled into two Land Cruisers. They roared into the night, hoping to cut off the shooter. The rangers rolled down their windows and listened for a second shot, which would likely signal Basta's calf was taken as well.

It was an ideal poacher's setup: half-moon, almost no wind. The human tracks were especially ominous. Poaching crews often pay trackers to find the rhinos, follow them until dusk, then radio their position to a shooter with a high-powered rifle. After the animal is down, the two horns on its snout are hacked off in minutes, and the massive carcass is left to hyenas and vultures. Nearly always the horns are fenced to an Asian buyer; an enterprising crew might also cut out Basta's fetus and the eyes of the mother and calf to sell to black magic or muti practitioners. If this gang was well organized, a group of heavily armed men would be covering the escape route, ready to ambush the rangers.

As the Land Cruiser bucked over rutted tracks, Damien did a quick calculation—between his vehicles he had two antiquated shotguns with about a dozen shells. Based on the sound of the shot, the poachers held an advantage in firepower. If the rangers did pick up a trail and followed on foot, they would have to contend with lions, leopards, and hyenas out hunting in the dark.

In the backseat of one of the speeding Land Cruisers, Benzene, a Zimbabwean ranger who had spent nearly a year watching over Basta and her calf and knew the pair intimately, loaded three shells into his shotgun, flicked on the safety, and chambered a round. As we bounced into the night, he said, "It is better for the poachers if they meet a lion than if they meet us."