Number of poached rhino horn topped that of last year
Rhino death toll stands at 1020 this year
SKUKUZA – There are still six weeks left until the end of 2014, but the number of poached rhino has already topped that of last year.
The national figure stands at 1 020, 16 more than the total slaughtered in 2013.
The latest statistics were released by the Department of Environmental Affairs on Thursday.
The Kruger National Park (KNP) still bears the brunt of the scourge, with 66 more incidents than last year but on the other side of the coin, 14 more poachers have been apprehended so far in 2014. Last year 133 arrests were made.
In Limpopo the poaching has more than doubled since 2010 to a total of 110 this year, but it has not exceeded the total in 2013 and so far 10 more arrests were made last year. KwaZulu-Natal is in second position with 84 poachings and 57 arrests.
Mpumalanga statistics to date stand on 70, which is 22 less than the total of last year, while nine more arrests have been made in the province so far.
North West also looks like it might be winning the war with almost 30 less rhino killed for their horns this year.
While acknowledging the challenge before the South African Government’s door, minister Ms Edna Molewa said at the sixth World Parks Congress underway in Sydney, that it might look as if the country was losing this war.
“We are concerned that poaching is part of a multibillion-dollar worldwide illicit wildlife trade. Addressing the scourge is not simple.”
She also reiterated that the record number of arrests this year follows an intensification of anti-poaching actions taken by SANParks and the police, as well as SANDF and provincial conservation and security officials.
