South Africa Rhino Poachings: 135 Endangered Rhinoceros Killed This Year

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African officials say 135 endangered rhinoceros have been killed by poachers so far this year, about a third of the number killed during all of 2011.

The government's environment department said in a statement Monday it is encouraged that arrests and convictions for rhino poaching appear to be increasing in 2012. There were 89 arrests in the first eleven weeks of this year.

The department says the worst hit area was the eastern Kruger wildlife park where 75 rhinos were killed for their horn since Jan. 1.

The government says despite a worldwide campaign against its use in traditional medicines in Asia, powdered rhino horn — almost identical to keratin in human finger nails — has soared in price on the illegal market since claims in Vietnam that it has cured cancer.

Comments

[Wildlife Margrit]

01:41 PM on 03/20/2012

Thank you for talking about this horrible assault on the rhino... one that continues. Did you know that Thembe the male rhino is not out of the woods yet, he may sadly not survive this poacher attack.

Thank you for the good reporting and the informative video clips

[Wanderland]

09:50 AM on 03/20/2012

I don't know if demand can be reduced, now that these backwater nitwits think rhino horn can cure cancer. I always thought that pharma companies, like Pfizer, were missing a huge opportunity to save the rhino by heavily marketing erectile dysfunction pills in SE Asia. But this new claim tosses a monkey wrench in that notion.

Other than that, wildlife benefits when locals benefit from the existence of LIVING wildlife.

[mlaiuppa]

11:49 PM on 03/19/2012

And it's only March.

89 arrests.

89 executions?

[Mezca]

09:13 PM on 03/19/2012

Rhino horn make you hard like rock!

Homeopathic idiocy.

[Roshi98]

08:51 PM on 03/19/2012

The ugly side of alternative medicine rears its head again. Certainly modern medicine has its problems, but to my knowledge it isn't leading to the deliberate wholesale extinction of species. When traditional and religious beliefs and "science" based on anecdote meet THIS is often the result.

[janejoy]

08:34 PM on 03/19/2012

Anyone know of a reputable charity to donate to that goes specifically toward saving Rhinos? I donated to one charity in response to an alert about rhino poaching and a few weeks later I got a letter in the mail saying thanks for my donation and that it was being used to save this particular species of fish and this one river and other uses- nothing to do with rhinos and saying if I donate another 100 within the next 30 days I would get a free tote......even though I thought I was allocating money towards saving the rhinos....

[Richard Wilford]

07:02 PM on 03/19/2012

Lets poach a few Chinese and Vietnamese. I hear their powdered bones can cure erectile dysfunction.

[g-moi]

05:59 PM on 03/19/2012

Probably by Trumps kids

[angusmciver]

09:17 PM on 03/19/2012

It is a fact there is someone out there not unlike Trump that would pay the big bucks to shoot the very last one. It should be enough to make everyone sad.

[eyelashviper]

05:10 PM on 03/19/2012

What I would like to do to those poachers is not nice, legal, and cannot even be posted here, but it would improve life for these wonderful and endangered creatures......

[angusmciver]

09:17 PM on 03/19/2012

Is the death penalty going too far?

[eyelashviper]

09:44 AM on 03/20/2012

that may be too kind....

[skylark]

04:53 PM on 03/19/2012

Why is it not possible to block all trade to China until they stop this slaughter of innocent animals? This is the most heartbreaking thing going on in the world today, and Asians are the real culprits. They appear to have no hearts at all.

[doodlebug2]

02:46 PM on 03/19/2012

very sad, wish it would end