HOW BARBARIC
Poachers leave this baby rhino without a mother ... then slaughter 6 in a single night for their horns
FORLORN and alone, a baby white rhino keeps watch over its mother’s body as it faces a battle for survival after being orphaned by cruel poachers.
The calf’s mother was the victim of a growing slaughter that has seen 139 rhinos killed for their horns so far this year in just one South African province.
In the latest incident, six rhinos were killed in a single night of bloodshed as part of the illegal trade in horns, which are prized in Chinese medicine.
Eleven shots were heard at around midnight on Sunday at the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal.
When anti-poaching units arrived at the scene early on Monday, six rhinos were found with their horns cut off, their bodies lying in pools of blood.
They were among 30 killed across South Africa during the weekend, anti-poaching campaigners claimed on social media.
KwaZulu-Natal has the greatest density of rhinos in South Africa and Hluhluwe– Imfolozi is home to incredibly important populations of both white and black rhinos. Musa Mntambo, a spokesman for the reserve, said: ‘To lose six rhinos in one night is devastating.
‘We are currently under severe attack from poachers. In 2016, 69 rhinos were killed in the province compared to 139 in 2017.’
The outlawed international trade in rhino horn is fuelled by a belief in China, Vietnam and other parts of the world that powdered horn has magical properties. Users believe it can treat cancer, cure hangovers and even act as an aphrodisiac.
South Africa has seen more than 1,000 rhinos killed in each of the past last four years – around three a day.
Over the past three years, poachers have increasingly turned their attention to KwaZulu-Natal’s game reserves following the introduction of stricter security in Kruger National Park, 300 miles to the north.
While that has meant poaching has fallen in Kruger since 2013, when 520 rhinos were killed there, it has risen significantly in other provinces, particularly KwaZulu-Natal.
The latest slaughter at the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi reserve sparked fears that the death toll for 2017 will exceed 260.
The park is renowned for being the home of the southern white rhino, brought back from the brink of extinction in the 1950s.
There are now around 20,000 white rhinos in the wild. The park also plays an important role in increasing South Africa’s black rhino population.
Kruger, which was South Africa’s first national park, increased its security measures still further in March after officials discovered that poachers were gaining entry by posing as visitors.
A car would take three or four men into the reserve but would leave with only the driver inside.
The problem is not confined to Africa. In March, poachers broke into a zoo at Thoiry, 30 miles west of Paris, killed a four-year-old white rhino and cut off its horn with a chainsaw.
There is also a thriving illegal trade in poached ivory. Research released on Tuesday by the pressure group the Environmental Investigation Agency revealed that they had tracked criminal gangs trafficking elephant tusks to Shui- dong Town, in Jiangxi province, southern China.
The town is home to a network of ivory-trafficking syndicates whose reach extends to East and West Africa, including the elephant poaching hotspots of Tanzania and Mozambique, EIA said.
One syndicate member told undercover investigators that Shuidong is the destination for 80 per cent of all ivory smuggled into China from Africa. EIA tracked a two-ton shipment of tusks from Mozambique to Shuidong. Campaigns director Julian Newman said: ‘Action is needed to end this huge criminal enterprise which is devastating Africa’s elephant populations.’
‘We are under severe attack’