Rhino poaching in SA rises for first time in 7 years

The number of rhinos killed by poachers in South Africa, which has the world’s biggest population of the animals, climbed for the first time in seven years in 2021 as curbs on movement related to the coronavirus pandemic eased.

The number of the animals killed illegally rose by 14% to 451, which is still below the 594 poached in 2019 and is just over a third of the number hunted in 2014, when a record number died.

While the number of animals killed illegally in national parks fell from a year earlier more rhinos were poached on private land, the Environment Department said Tuesday in a statement. The number of rhinos in the Kruger National Park, which is the size of Israel, has been decimated over the last decade by illegal hunting and droughts. Anti-poaching efforts have also increased in the reserve.

“One of the unintended consequences is that poaching syndicates are looking to other areas for easy prey and this has resulted in their targeting private reserves,” the department said.

South Africa is home to most of the world’s white rhinos and some black rhinos. The animals are killed for their horns, which are smuggled to east Asia, where there is a belief that products made from them are effective in treating cancer and increasing virility.

© 2022 Bloomberg