Another two rhinos have been darted and poached at Fairy Glen Private Game Reserve near Worcester in the Western Cape.
A male and female white rhino were darted early on Sunday morning with the highly regulated M99 drug. The female was pregnant and because of the overdose of M99 the baby will have to be aborted. The two rhinos will be monitored by vets around the clock. Both horns had been hacked off of each animal, damaging their nose bone. The rhinos are battling to breath but the vets administered medical tar to seal the wounds which will hopefully help the animals breath easier.
‘The rhinos are in a stable condition and have a 60% chance of survival,’ says owner Pieter De Jager.
There is no sign of entry into the reserve but they have located where the poachers exited. Staff at Fairy Glen suspect that it was a team of three poachers conducting a sophisticated operation. Inverdoorn Game Reserve, situated close to Fairy Glen, was also attacked that same evening. Their anti-poaching unit reacted in time and shot at three poachers, assumed to be the same three that darted and dehorned the rhinos at Fairy Glen.
The rhino poaching kingpins have access to schedule seven drugs: a highly regulated drug that only vets have access to. There are legal requirements for prescription, storage, record keeping and destruction. The poaching kingpins know exactly what they’re doing and they have help from people who have access to these drugs.
It will take a multi-pronged approach to end this war on rhino poaching. It will take people fighting on the ground in South Africa’s game reserves, fighting in our courts to prosecute poachers and fighting in Asia to decrease the demand, where it is thought to hold medicinal qualities.
For more information about rhino poaching contact:
Simon Morgan of Rhino Reality: cell: 082-093-8345, www.rhinoreality.org
or me, Christie Fynn, on my cell: 083-419-41-73
For information about the Fairy Glen incident contact:
Pieter De Jager, Fairy Glen owner: 073-323-6089
Photo by Rudi Hulshof
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