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There is no doubt that animals will be in Heaven. The Bible is clear: “Now I saw Heaven opened, and behold a white horse…” Revelation 19:11. The Bible describes the angels around God’s throne as having features and characteristics like that of a lion, a bull and an eagle (Ezekiel 1). God Himself is likened in Scripture to a lion, a leopard, a bear (Hosea 13:7-8) and to an eagle (Deuteronomy 32:11). God made a good and perfect earth, populated by many animals. God directed Adam to name the animals – indicating relationship.

Creation Worships the Creator

The largest book in the Bible, the middle book of the Bible, the Hymn and Prayer book of the Bible, the Psalms, reveal that all of God’s Creation have contact with God (Psalm 93). All God’s Creatures praise Him. “Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures… beasts and all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl; …let them praise the Name of the Lord for His Name alone is exalted. His Glory is above earth and heaven.” Psalm 148:7-13. “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Psalm 150:6
The living creatures around God’s throne who are singing Holy! Holy! Holy! is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His Glory! are animals (Isaiah 6:3).

Every Creature

The last book of the Bible presents the final climax of the ages when all Creation faces the Creator. First the four living creatures (the animal-like angels around God’s throne, as described in Ezekiel 1) praise God, then the twenty four elders, then the Redeemed people of God, then the angels (Revelation 4:6; 5:12). Finally the great scene is described when all living beings present their worship to Almighty God. “And every creature which is in Heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: blessing and honour and glory and power be to Him who sits on the Throne and to the Lamb, forever and ever!” Revelation 5:13
Consider the Sparrows
God created all the animals (Psalm 104). All animals belong to God (Psalm 50:10). God cares for the animals. “Jesus said: ‘are not the five sparrows sold for two copper coins and not one of them is forgotten before God.’” Luke 12:6. It is that Scripture which inspired the first act of the Union of South Africa, the minting of the half cent coin and later the one cent coin with two sparrows on it – reminding us that God cares for the very least.

Animals Matter to God

There are those who say that animals do not matter, but the Lord Jesus taught that His people are worth more than many sparrows (Matthew 6:28). If a sparrow is worthless, then of what value are you? A hundred times zero equals zero. A million times zero still equals zero. For you to be of great value, the birds of the air must be of some value. Obviously animals matter to God because the presence of animals in Nineveh is recorded as one of the reasons for God’s mercy in not destroying that sinful city (Jonah 4:11).

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A song is in aid of rhino conservation and especially the rhino orphans has been produced. Click here to listen to it on Youtube.

“How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished.” Jeremiah 12:4

Rhinos were close to extinction in the early 1990s. Two decades of painstaking conservation efforts succeeded in increasing the population of rhinos in Africa, from fewer than 2,500 in 1992, to over 24,000 by 2010.

Rhinos at Risk

Now a sharp increase in poaching of rhinos is threatening to reverse decades of conservation efforts and plunge rhinos back into decline and the threat of extinction. In the last three years over 800 rhino have been killed, most of those in South Africa.

The drastic surge in rhino poaching is being driven by an insane demand in Asia for rhino horn. In Vietnam and China, people are willing to pay thousands of dollars for just a sliver of rhino horn. Rhino horn is considered a miracle drug and an aphrodisiac. Although there is no scientific evidence to support this bizarre belief, rhino horn can fetch $22,000 per kilo on the black market. Rhino poaching is now a R150 billion industry annually.

Organised Crime

Rhino poaching is now listed as the third most lucrative criminal trade in the world – behind drugs and human trafficking (slavery). Well-equipped, sophisticated organised crime syndicates, using helicopters and automatic weapons, are ruthlessly targeting rhinos throughout Southern Africa.

War on Wildlife

As South Africa is home to most of the world’s rhino population, this war against organised crime is mostly being fought in our game parks. Of the 20,000 white rhino in the world, 19,000 are in South Africa, 12,000 of those are in Kruger National Park. In 2010, Kruger National Park lost 146 of its rhino to poachers and far more in 2011. As Kruger National Park has a 186 mile open border with Mozambique, it is particularly vulnerable to poachers. South Africa is home to 1,600 black rhino. The white rhino gets its name from a mispronunciation for “wide” as a description of their lip. White rhino weigh as much as 3 tonnes. Black rhino weigh up to 1.5 tonnes.

In 2011, 448 rhino were killed for their horn, 333 of those were in South Africa. Rhino poaching has increased 400% in the last 10 years. The Wildlife Conservation Trust points out that high level corruption is involved in this destructive traffic. By way of example they point out how a professional hunter, arrested in 2010 for poaching and trading in rhino horn, has since been issued 12 new rhino hunting licences! All this despite being out of jail, on R1 million bail!