Who is behind rhino poaching? Dare to watch the video at the end of the post.
Who Needs Rhino Horns
With the steep rise of wealth in China and Vietnam, the perception of rhino horn benefits seems grow as well. Rhino horn has zero medicinal value but rhino poaching has still continuously increased.
In an article by TIME magazine, African game ranchers, safari guides and wildlife officials participate in rhino poaching. Those are precisely those who should protect the beasts.
At the same time, Asian criminals posing as big-game hunters are spending tens of thousands of dollars on licenses that allow them to legally shoot rhinos in South Africa, adding a respectable veneer to a nasty pursuit.
A continent away, Chinese business interests are investing lavishly in a shadowy rhino-farming scheme that threatens to contravene international law.
Together, these elements amount to “the most sophisticated organized crime that the convention has had to face in its history,” says John Sellar, head of the enforcement office for the CITES secretariat.
South Africa continuously loses rhinos to poaching. Further, things are not looking up in the near future. The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust does a phenomenal job helping rhinos. IUCN also has a great rhino-focused effort. If rhinos are close to your heart and you would like to help further, those are some organisations to contact.
If you’re in the dark about the poaching crisis, you’ll find some need-to-know facts in below the slick infographic (click to enlarge). The creators are Earth-Touch, Rhinos By The Numbers. Indeed, the infographic tells a good story about rhino poaching and the struggle against killers in Africa.
Earth-Touch also created a great animated video based on the rhinos infographic. Warning, it is graphic and we cried watching it.
It seems like one of the biggest rhino poachers has been caught: Times’ “Joint operation nets poaching ‘kingpin’”
Further: Read TIME magazine’s article “Killing Fields: Africa’s Rhinos Under Threat”
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