RHINOs - Saving the LAST ONEs on Earth

A Rhino being moved to a SAFER reserve

The 2012 poaching numbers gave authorities an alert to reallocate a substantial number of Rhinos to safer grounds, otherwise in 20 years from now the specie could become extinct.

A total of 668 rhinos were massacred in South Africa in 2012, according to the latest figures released by the Department of Environmental Affairs.

Kruger National Park suffered a staggering loss of 425 rhinos. The North West, Limpopo, and KwaZulu-Natal provinces were hit hard, losing 77, 66 and 59 rhinos.

267 suspects were arrested in the country for rhino crimes.

Facing this tragic statistics, the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC identified Vietnam as the primary destination for illegal rhino horn, where it “is in demand as a supposed ‘miracle medicine’, despite a lack of supporting medical evidence”. Traffickers also managed to export at least 657 rhino horns legally during 2003 — 2010, thanks to some of South Africa’s safari operators who facilitated bogus trophy hunts with Vietnamese nationals.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the governments of South Africa and Vietnam was signed On December 10th, 2012, at a ceremony in Hanoi, in hopes of reducing the flow of illicit wildlife — especially rhino horns. We hope that 2013 can be more a more protective year to save this amazing specie.