The heart of the crisis is for the moment South Africa, which loose nearly one rhino per day of poaching this year. South Africa has more than 70% of the world’s rhinos. Both the black and the white Rhino. The Critically Endangered Black rhino has fewer than 4,000 left, and has suffered from extreme poaching pressures over the years. White Rhinos, the most plenteous of all rhino species.They are considered ‘Near Threatened’ and have about 17,000 members left in their wild population, but the number are falling rapidly because of ruthless poachers who are after their horns. The majority live in South Africa, which is the hardest hit nation in the surging rhino poaching crisis. According to WWF has at least 316 animals been killed by poachers under 2010, compared with 2009 where 122 got killed. There is a sharp increase from fewer than 10 animals per year for 20 years ago. Conservationists fear that the problem will spread to other regions, because the demand for rhino horn is big in Asia – and particularly in Vietnam where they are sold for tens of thousands of dollars per piece! Although the trade in rhino horn is banned is the medical use of them in Asia up demand. In traditional Chinese medicine, the horns are ground down to powder and substance considered to have fever-reducing effect. More recently, the belief that horns can be used to cure cancer increased demand in Vietnam, combined with the country’s growing economy. The demand of these horns has to stop, and the attitude among people also needs to change.
South Africa, the government has set up a special unit to investigate wildlife crime. Parks and reserves makes it’s way to stop poaching. Animal horn colored, fitted with microchips or cut off before the hunters time to get to them. But as the conservationists fear, the poaching problem are allready moving to other regions. News from Kenya, which has only 600 black rhinos left in the region, alarms about increasing poaching. As many as 21 have been killed this year already, according to South African National Parks.
The last female rhino in Krugersdorp Park in South Africa was killed in july 2010.
After a merciless removal of her horn the rhino female passed away with a massive amount of blood loss. Not seldom is the rhino still alive when the horn is brutaly taken of the rhino. India’s Kaziranga National Park: “The female greater one-horned rhino in this photo below died as a result of being attacked by poachers. She suffered for almost 36 hours after being shot and having her horn hacked off while she was still alive. Her calf was also murdered.”
Human cruelty seem to have no borders. We need to be more aware, share knowledge and take action. We need to save the rhinos, from this cruelty but also from extinction. Four of the five remaining species of rhino will become extinct in the wild in our lifetime if we do not take action to stop poaching and support rhino conservation.
I’ll end as I started with Sarah Pappin’s words: “With no end in near sight for the world’s rhino crisis, disturbing reports are now coming at an unprecedented rate. Daily, even sometimes several times a day, we are hit with more heartbreaking news about these fading pachyderm species. All of them being killed for a single reason: their horn.”
Take Action and learn more about the Rhino Situation:
http://bushwarriors.wordpress.com
Sarah Pappin, writer/blogger for The Bush Warriors.
Sarah writes about Wildlife, often about rhinos. Her own word’s: “When I graduated with my B.S. in Wildlife Science, I knew that I was destined to become a Wildlife Warrior.”
I do recommend her “wildlifebloggs!
http://www.savingrhinos.org
Rhishja Larson is the founder and Program Director of Saving Rhinos LLC, a public awareness program focusing on the illegal trade in rhino horn. She shares news, opinion, and commentary on her blog Rhino Horn is Not Medicine and a book will soon be released. She has also been a guest blogger on National Geographic’s NatGeo News Watch. You will find great reading and a lot of info about All Rhinos in both Africa and Asia. And do take a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/savingrhinos
http://www.rhinos-irf.org
Int.Rhino Fundation
Photos: Saving Rhinos org.
