Bloomberg has finally done the number crunching on exactly how high South Africa’s rhino poaching numbers actually are. The number is pretty staggering.
So far this year, 405 rhinos have been poached, almost all in pursuit of dehorning to meet an Asian demand for rhino horn. The number is a 22% increase on the numbers from 2010. The news isn’t all bad though – arrests have increased this year by 27%, going up to a total of 220 arrests so far this year.
93% of Africa’s rhinos live in South Africa, so this is a very serious problem. Demand for the rhino’s horn is at an all-time high, which is used in medicinal homeopathic remedies. This can range from aphrodisiac all the way to a cure for some forms of cancer.
[Source: Bloomberg]
