JOHANNESBURG – A record number of African rhinos were illegally killed in South Africa this year, driven by the use of their horns in Chinese medicine and a spreading belief in Southeast Asia, unfounded in science, that they may cure cancer.
The
street value of rhinoceros horns has soared to about $65,000 a
kilogramme, making it more expensive than gold. South Africa, home to
more than 20,000 rhinos, or about 90 percent of
all the rhinos in Africa, lost 455 rhinos to poachers, as of Tuesday,
to eclipse the 448 killed in all of 2011, the environment ministry said
in a statement.
Around 15 animals a year were lost a decade ago, showing the impact of rising demand from Asia.
The number of rhinoceroses dying unnatural deaths in South Africa,
either through illegal poaching or legal hunts, has now reached a level
likely to lead to population decline, according to a study by Richard
Emslie, an expert in the field.
Poaching increased dramatically from about 2007 as a growing affluent
class in China, Vietnam and Thailand began spending more on rhino horn
for traditional medicine, where it was once used for ailments such as
devil possession.
About half of poaching takes place in Kruger National Park, the
country’s flagship park covering an area about the size of Israel, where
soldiers and surveillance aircraft have been deployed in recent months
to slow the carnage.
Reuters