Rhino slaughter

FLIES buzz around a hulking pile of flesh with its eyes gouged out and its horns hacked out, lying rotting in the Kruger National Park in the opening scenes of a shocking new documentary on rhino poaching.

A series of still-photos of other gruesome kills flash across the screen in Rhino Under Threat, a deeply disturbing 28-minute film available on YouTube that has been made to drive home the horror of the rhino poaching crisis.

The film debuted on Monday at the Rio+20 global environment conference in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

South Africa, home to the vast majority of the planet s rhinos, is at the epicentre of

’ the unfolding tragedy.

The Department of Environmental Affairs reveals that, as of June 15, 245 rhinos have been poached in the country this year. At this rate the carnage this year will almost certainly exceed the 448 animals slain last year.

Elephant and rhino poaching is surging, an illegal part of Asia s scramble for

’ African resources driven by the growing purchasing power of newly affluent Asians, say conservationists.

Rhino horn has long been used in traditional medicines in China and Vietnam and the film quotes a doctor at Hanoi s

’ biggest hospital who sings its praises.

According to the film, rhino horns have also been stolen from museums and private collections in more than 15 countries and Vietnam s last wild Javan rhino was

’ poached last year.

It s heart-rending,” Ted Reilly, the “’ head of Swaziland s Big Game Parks, says

’ in the film. The kingdom lost its first rhino to poachers in two decades last year. You will find a rhino cow with a baby “calf. The mother goes down and the calf ...

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