Rhinos are on a path to extinction, possibly within a decade. Thank the losers who ingest their horns, hoping for a little help in the sack. There are maybe 20,000 rhinos left and they don’t have much chance against poachers with AK-47s and saws feeding an Asian market that prices these medically useless horns at […]
Tag: white rhino
Amid rhinoceros poaching frenzy, dark days for South African society
Two adult rhinos and a calf lie under a tree 50 meters off the road. It’s a nice sighting for me in the midday heat of Kruger National Park in South Africa — my second of rhinos in two days. On the eastern horizon behind their sleeping forms lies a dark blue line; the Lembobo […]
At home with the world’s last male northern white rhinoceros
Mohamed Doyo seems to have a dream job. Every evening, he patrols the Kenyan savannah, glimpsing lions chasing down darting Thomson’s gazelles, hearing the calls of red-chested cuckoos and, when there is a full moon, seeing the majestic, snow-capped peaks of Mount Kenya in the distance. But Doyo can scarcely stop to admire the extraordinary […]
New blood record: 1,020 rhinos killed in South Africa
South Africa has surpassed last year’s grisly record for slaughtered rhinos – 1,004 – more than a month before the year ends. In an announcement on November 20th, the South African Department of Environmental Affairs said that 1,020 rhinos had been killed to date. Rhinos are butchered for their horns, which are consumed as curatives […]
The inconvenient solution to the rhino poaching crisis
Daily, we read or hear of more rhino being poached to satisfy the seemingly insatiable demand from Asia for rhino horn. With countless articles and papers having been published on the subject – and the Internet abuzz with forums, including heated debates concerning possible solutions – current approaches seem to be failing. Evidence is in […]
With death of rhino, only six northern white rhinos left on the planet
Rhino conservation suffered another tragic setback this weekend with the sudden death of Suni, a male northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Suni’s passing means there are only six northern white rhinos left in the world, and only one breeding male. “Consequently the species now stands at the […]
South Africa’s Kruger National Park invites bids for 500 white rhinos
South Africa’s Kruger National Park is inviting bids for rhinos under a plan to move 500 of the animals to safety to counter a wave of poaching for their horns, highly prized in some Asian countries as a sign of wealth. In newspaper adverts on Sunday, South African National Parks invited potential buyers to “make […]
More than 1,000 rhinos killed in South Africa in 2013
More than 1,000 rhinos were killed in South Africa last year at a record-breaking rate that marked a jump of 50% on the year before. The environment ministry said 1,004 animals were killed in 2013, up from 668 in 2012 and just 13 in 2007, as the poaching crisis escalated. Most of the killing was […]