The Rietvlei Nature Reserve bordering Pretoria-East is practically on my doorstep, and when I read the headlines of this article, on the second page of the “Pretoria News” yesterday morning, my first thoughts were, -- “We are living among savages!”
Two white rhinos have been killed for their horns at Rietvlei Nature Reserve by what police believe is a hi-tech organised poaching syndicate. Nature conservation staff made the gruesome discovery of the two carcasses on Monday.
According to the evidence collected from the scene it appears that the poachers darted the animals from the sky. Tshwane Metro Council Spokeswoman Dikeldi Phiri said, “the poachers left the crime scene by helicopter."
Plans are underway to dehorn the seven surviving rhinos in the reserve.
(I wonder why this wasn’t done sooner!)
No arrest have been made yet.
The number of rhinos in South Africa that have been poached for their horns, is astronomically shocking! According to this report, 253 rhinos were killed by poachers in the past five years. 87 rhinos were killed in 2008, and 104 died in 2009.