South Africa Reports Small Drop in Number of Killed Rhinos

Kruger Park has borne the brunt of poaching in the last few years, with poachers using the easy transit routes and open border with Mozambique to kill rhino and retreat before they are caught.

“After seven years of increases, a decline in the rate of rhino poaching in South Africa is very encouraging… but sadly the overall rate remains unacceptably high”, said Morné du Plessis, CEO of WWF South Africa.

A day after a judge lifted a domestic ban on the trade in rhino horn, official figures have revealed that almost 1,200 rhinos were killed by poachers in South Africa past year.

An environment department survey of the white rhino population found Kruger was home to 8,400-9,300 of the beasts.

The number of rhino being killed by poachers in South Africa dipped slightly in 2015, in the first sign that the country may be turning the corner on the lucrative illegal trade.

But two South African rhino farmers-who between them have stockpiled hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of horn-sued the government, and in December 2015 a court ruled the moratorium invalid.

Reacting to the decision by the High Court in Pretoria, Humane Society International warned that it was putting rhinos in peril by effectively making the trade in their horn legal.

“With immediate effect, anybody who wishes to purchase a rhino horn here in South Africa can do so”, said Pelham Jones of the Private Rhino Owners Association.

Peter Knights, executive director of San Francisco-based WildAid, said there is concern that rhino horn sold locally in South Africa could be laundered into the worldwide market, increasing the threat to rhinos. Rhino horn is composed chiefly of keratin, the same substance as a human fingernail, and there’s no evidence of its medicinal benefit.

The horn is sold in powdered form as a supposed cure for cancer and other diseases. And yet, she said in a conference call with journalists, “its mythology is leading to the wiping out of that iconic species from Africa”.