Come and see the beautiful rhinos...

[bigsleepj]

... because in two or three years there will be none left.

There has always been poaching and rhinos have always been on the endangered species lists but in recent year things have gotten out of hand. 83 rhinos were killed in 2008. In 2009 - 122. In 2010 333 rhinos were slaughtered. This year alone we've had 223 rhinos killed, and will probably end up over 400. The shocking thing is that these numbers are for South Africa alone. Similar situations are happening all across Africa. SA has the best infrastructure to deal with this, but a country like Mozambique (still recovering from a 20 year civil war) would not be able to stop it at all.

Despite the fact that the government, the relevant state departments, private citizens, the police, conservation groups, the media (both liberal and conservative legs) and even the army have teamed up against it there has been no decrease. Unless something it is foreseeable that rhinos in the wild will die out before the end of the decade.

Here are some of the poachers tactics:

Poachers fly in with helicopters into National Parks or private reserves, shoot the rhinos from the air then have their ground teams saw off the horns, which can sell for a lot over seas. The carcasses are left to rot. Another one has people going into national parks seemingly as families and groups of 'business associates'; when they find a rhino they kill it and harvest the horn. Technically they can drug it and saw of the horn, but they see it as safer to kill. Other tactics include joining forces with legitimate hunters who then legally procure rhinos in order to slaughter them. Thieves are even stealing from museums in South Africa as well as Europe. They are well organized and come from every walk of South African (and international) life.

I'm getting off my soap box now, but I just wanted you all to know...

National Geographic on this.

http://www.savetherhino.org/

[color="Red"]Please note: [/color]the following site has the best, most direct information, but it has incredibly detailed, gruesome pictures plastered all over it. Don't click this link if you're sensitive to actual blood and gore. http://www.stoprhinopoaching.com/

[Furen]

That's... really sad

I can't believe people are heartless enough to take off the horns while they're still alive

I may not be an animal lover, but I'll never do anything bad to them purposfully, and I even like a few, but wow, that's so cruel.

[Cognitive Gear]

This is always such a bummer. Rhinos are really beautiful creatures. Sadly, there really isn't any way to stop this quickly enough, as the problems that are generating such behavior are deeply seated in economic and cultural issues.

Hopefully we can keep enough of them comfortably in captivity to preserve them for future generations to see.

[bigsleepj]

There has been discussion of breeding rhinos specifically for harvesting their horn. Assuming such a thing is possible (I've never heard anyone crunch any numbers on this) then the tide might be stemmed. But it would have to be a lot of rhino farms. Probably the cost of feeding a rhino for 10 years until its ready is not viable.

[Nanao]

This kind of thing really makes me sad and angry. I wish people could look at the bigger picture, instead of being so focused on the present. Wishful thinking, I know. It would be cool if they could be kept in captivity. Maybe if their numbers could be increased they could be re-introduced into the wild, like they've done with wolves here...

[fermy6]

Its all a greed thing.....It sucks cuz they also my favourite animals

[Wallachia]

Rhinos are pretty cool creatures... It's pretty sad to hear about this.

[GeneD]

The problem is, most of the rhinos are ALREADY in "captivity" in nature reserves. What's to stop these people breaking into farms or any kind of protection or breeding facility and just killing more rhinos?

Apparently there have been cases where officials have safely removed some rhinos' horns to make them less of a target, I think this might be the only way to stop these people in the end.

Something really sad I heard on the news a few weeks ago is that a man being accused of being a "rhino poaching kingpin" can still apply and obtain a legal rhino hunting permit and they can't do anything about it until he is found guilty; only God knows when that will be.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

This is terribly sad because rhinos are such beautiful creatures and already so endangered. They are one of my favourite animals too.

[Sebastian Michaelis]

That is quite awful to hear about the rhino's being killed in such staggering numbers

[Furen]

That is quite awful to hear about the rhino's being killed in such staggering numbers

not only the numbers, but the lengths they go to to tear a part of a body off...

if someone was pulling off my nose, or shoulder blade, I wouldn't want them to be around me... that would be painful, and terrifying...

[Rusty Claymore]

Well, it seems to be a large scale poaching operation, so the only viable solution I can see is to increase the consequences until it's really not worth it. That and some sting operations. Basically, people are going to get away with it no matter what you do, Africa is just too big. However with an increased risk less people will be willing to gamble.

Kinda like the pirate issue. If no pirates ever return from raids, people stick to fishing. Only since the poachers aren't killing people, you'd have to use slower, less pro-active measures.

[Bobtheduck]

I was going to come in with a James and the Giant peach reference, but then I actually read the post...

That really sucks. Hopefully the populations in zoos stay strong, so that -- I hate to say it -- once those poachers run out of rhinos to kill, we can return them to the wild someday and the poachers will have given up on it by that point.

[Ally-Ann]

Jeez, this is sad. I love rhinos 'cause imo, they're majestic creatures, as weird as that sounds.