The 15 threatened animals were shot dead for their horns last month in the Mozambican part of Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which also covers South Africa and Zimbabwe.
They were thought to be the last of an estimated 300 that roamed through the special conservation area when it was established as "the world's greatest animal kingdom" in a treaty signed by the three countries' then presidents in 2002...Who didn't see this coming?? A quick search finds salaries for game rangers at $60/month.
Wildlife authorities believe the poachers were able to track the rhinoceroses with the help of game rangers working in the Limpopo National Park, as the Mozambican side of the reserve is known.A total of 30 rangers are due in court in the coming weeks, charged with collusion in the creatures' deaths, according to the park's administrators.
Conservationists say the poorly-paid rangers were vulnerable to corruption by organised poaching gangs, who target rhinoceroses for their horns which are prized in Asia for their reputed aphrodisiac and cancer-curing properties.
The trade in rhino horn has seen the numbers of rhino killed spiral in recent years. Over the border in Kruger, the South African part of the transfrontier park, 180 have been killed so far this year, out of a national total of 249. Last year, 668 rhino were poached in South Africa, a 50 per cent increase over the previous year.
I'm going to stop blogging about the progressive obliteration of the worlds rhinos. It's just too damn depressing.
Well, this certainly brings me back down after the uplifting Russian dashcam post...
ReplyDeleteThis is sad beyond words, yet, as you pointed out, not entirely unexpected.
It's easy to sit in our comfortable chairs in America and feel deep compassion for these animals and to wonder how anyone could do such a thing. But I have no doubt that the priorities are different for people barely trying to scrape by in a 3rd world country. I wonder what extent lack of education has on this too. Did they think "there have always been rhinos, there will always be rhinos?" Or were they generally aware that the end was near for the rhinos, but they could still make a living while they lasted?
The world gets lonelier and lonelier for us murderous apes.
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