2014 was a real rhino-slaughtering bonanza

[n2doc]

Poachers in South Africa killed 1,215 rhinos last year—an increase of more than 20% from 2013. What’s driving the country’s poaching crisis is the value of its horn, which is prized in Asia—particularly in Vietnam and China—for its supposed medicinal and narcotic purposes. Rhino horns can sell for more than $66,000 a kilogram (about $30,000 per pound) on the Chinese black market, according to Chatham House, a think tank.


Last year’s slaughter may have already pushed South Africa’s population into decline, says Traffic, a non-governmental wildlife crime monitoring group. On average, poachers killed more than three rhinos each day of 2014.

That’s a staggering rate considering only 18,000 South African white rhinos remain in the wild, according to a 2013 study (paywall)—so few that if poaching continues at current rates, Africa’s rhinos may be extinct in the wild within 20 years.

more

http://qz.com/331644/2014-was-a-real-rhino-slaughtering-bonanza/

[Judi Lynn]

1. What a shame there are no poacher hunters, no hunters to track the people who buy their merchandise.

Letting these people brutally wipe out entire species while the world looks the other way is not good enough.

[Nihil]

2. Release the powdered confiscated horn back into the black market ...

... after adding bromide & arsenic (or similar).






From the "two birds with one stone" department comes a way to dispose of some really nasty toxic waste!