One-horned rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) with its horn cut off to protect it from poachers
Nearly 200 rhinos have been killed in South Africa through the first six months of 2011, reports TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.
Statistics from South Africa’s national parks department show that rhino poaching is on track to break 2010’s record of 333 rhinos killed.
126 rhinos have been killed in Kruger National Park. 146 were killed in the park in 2010.
TRAFFIC says rhino poaching is being conducted by criminal syndicates that sell rhino horn to consumers in China and Vietnam, who believe rhino horn cures ailments despite research indicating that rhino horn offers nothing more than a placebo effect.
“Poaching is being undertaken almost without exception by sophisticated criminals, sometimes hunting from helicopters and using automatic weapons,” said Dr Joseph Okori, WWF’s African Rhino Program Coordinator, in a statement. “South Africa is fighting a war against organized crime that risks reversing the outstanding conservation gains it made over the past century.”
“The poaching surge shows no sign of abating,” added Tom Milliken, Elephant & Rhino Program Coordinator with TRAFFIC. “Only a concerted international enforcement pincer movement, at both ends of the supply and demand chain, can hope to nip this rhino poaching crisis in the bud.”
TRAFFIC is a run by WWF and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
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