Zwile is a very clever poacher. Nobody ever taught him when he was young that it is wrong to poach and that we are suppose to conserve nature. He does not care about any of that, he is just interested in the money he gets for the rhino horn and the elephant tusks and all the other animals he catches and sells to the highest bidders.
The rangers gave him the nickname Twice, because it has been now two times that they almost caught him, but every time he gets away.
Zwile knows the bush very well and he sets his traps next to the river where he knows the animals will walk.
The rangers knew his routine. Every morning at nine and afternoon at four, he would come and check the traps. They have waited for him there behind the bushes, but Zwile is clever and he had a plan how to know that the rangers were waiting for him.
He walks up to the trap, then he looks around and quickly runs back to the fence. It is usually then that the rangers think he saw them and they jump out from behind the bush and chases after Twice. He did not really see them but then he knows that they are there and he would run away very fast.
He was too fast for anybody to catch him.
The rangers lost hope, but one of them called Peter Blake had a plan on how to catch Zwile. He told the other rangers, that the next time Twice runs back to the fence, they must just stay behind the bush and he will think there is nobody.
The moment he is relaxed and goes back to the trap, they will make a circle around him and catch him.
This is exactly what happened a few days later and when Twice was running back to the fence, everybody just waited and when he came back, Peter gave the order and at last they caught Zwile.
Twice had to go to jail and even thought Peter could have just left him there, he organized for Twice to get counselling and be taught how important it is to conserve nature.
He also told Twice that once he is out of jail, he can become a ranger, and since he knows a lot about poaching, he can help them catch the other poachers.
Twice was so thankful for this chance and he told Peter "You must now call me "Second" because you have given me a second chance. I now understand why it is important to conserve nature and I will gladly help you catch the poachers that are destroying our nature and causing some animals to become extinct."
Zwile soon became one of the best rangers around and did a lot of good for conservation. He even helped raise a baby rhino who's mum was killed.
It is never to late for anybody to turn their live around and become a better person.
Answer the following questions
- What is a poacher?
- What does it mean to conserve nature?
- What does it mean if something becomes extinct?
- What was Zwile's nickname and how did he get it.
- How did Twice fool the rangers?
- How did Peter help Zwile when he was in jail?
- Would you like to be a ranger and why or why not?
- Why did Zwile wanted to change his nickname to Second?
- What lesson can you learn from this story?
- Design your own poster to educate people on conservation.
