Rhino killing spotlights security

Zoos on alert after animal shot, horn removed in Paris

NEW YORK — The brazen killing of a rhinoceros at a wildlife park near Paris by assailants who removed a horn valued at nearly triple the price of gold has put zookeepers on notice that poaching could be spreading beyond the killing fields of Africa and Asia.

Demand for the horns is skyrocketing in Asia, where they are ground into a powder and used for medicinal purposes by some who believe it cures everything from cancer to hangovers.

More than 90 zoos in the U.S. housing rhinoceros adhere to rigorous security requirements and comply with regular inspections for accreditation, said Dan Ashe, president and chief executive of the Marylandbased Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

But he conceded Friday: “Nobody is insulated from this potential; we have made sure our members are aware of what occurred in Paris and they are quite vigilant.”

Jacques-Olivier Barthes, a spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund in France, said zoos in Europe may have to change their security procedures in light of the attack. He said there are 300 rhinoceros in Europe, including 111 in Great Britain.

Officials in France said Tuesday that a 5-year-old white rhinoceros named Vince was shot three times in the head by poachers who broke into the Thoiry Zoo. They used a chain saw to remove the rhino’s horn.

“Ashe said some estimate the horns could sell for as much as $3,000 an ounce, or between $500,000 and $1 million.

“This is a new potential threat,” said Michael Hutchins, former director of conservation and science for AZA and a former executive director of the Wildlife Society. “In order to stop this kind of thing, you have to lower the value of these animal parts and increase the punishment so people think twice about taking the chance. But it’s quite complicated.”

Tom Stalf, president and CEO of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and The Wilds in Ohio, said safety of the animals is his top priority, but he declined to share details.

The head of Britain’s National Wildlife Crime Unit said officials would look to assess and improve security at every location in the United Kingdom that housed rhinos.

Bas Huijbregts, a World Wildlife Fund African species expert, said this is the first instance he knows of a rhino being killed in a zoo.