Rhino poached at Cradle of Humankind

In a sad press release on Friday, the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve confirmed the news that one of their rhinos had been poached overnight, with a second wounded.

“The injured rhino has been darted and is being treated, but we are grateful that she will live,” said the park’s spokesperson, Jessica Khupe.

“We know that we always need to be vigilant. Because of our name, the public knows that we have rhinos in our reserve, which makes them vulnerable. On the other hand, one of the purposes of the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve is to make it easier for residents of South Africa’s most densely populated urban areas to see wild rhinos. Getting to share these wonderful, gentle creatures with the public is something all of us at the reserve care about very deeply, and we have decided that we will not let criminals stop us from doing something that matters so much.”

She said they were devastated and angry and it was a reminder that rhino poaching remained a crisis.

“We will need to stay on constant alert if our children’s children are to have a chance to see one of Africa’s most iconic species living free. We will do everything we can to help the authorities to bring these criminals to justice.

They would be increasing security going forward for the rest of their herd.

“As you can imagine, we cannot divulge any details that would put our animals at risk, but we can assure the public that we will do everything in our power to limit any further poaching related occurrences in the future.”

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