It’s a sad day for conservation. According to the director of the Limpopo National Park, António Abacar, not a single rhino remains of the 300 that were resident when the park opened in 2002. What is even worse is that 30 rangers will appear in court soon, charged with involvement in the killing of the rhino.
Kevin Albie, of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said, “It is tragic beyond tears that we learn game rangers have now become the enemy in the fight to protect rhino from being poached for their horns. That the entire rhino population of part of such an important conservation initiative can be wiped out – and with the help of wildlife enforcement officers – speaks volumes about the deadly intent of the wildlife trade.”
Limpopo National Park is part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which also includes South Africa’s Kruger National Park and Zimbabwe’s Gonarezhou National Park. The translocation of animals began in 2001, and the first tourist facilities were available in 2005.
686 rhino were poached last year, and this year looks set to beat that horrible record. The latest SANParks update sets the number at 249 rhino killed already this year, 180 of which occurred in the Kruger National Park.
However, not all the news is bad: 78 poachers have been arrested so far this year, and two poachers who killed a rhino in Hoedspruit in 2011 were sentenced last week to 15 years in prison. Hopefully this will pose a deterrent to other potential poachers.
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Main image: Black rhino and calf by Pip Mortlock
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