• News
  • Sport
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Education
  • TV Licences
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION
Home South Africa

Rhino poaching increases after South Africa eases lockdown restrictions

3 May 2021, 5:33 PM  |
Reuters Reuters |  @SABCNews
The country's environmental ministry is expected to release its 2021 half-year poaching figures at the end of June.

The country's environmental ministry is expected to release its 2021 half-year poaching figures at the end of June.

Image: Reuters

The country's environmental ministry is expected to release its 2021 half-year poaching figures at the end of June.

Rhino poaching is on the rise again in South Africa since the government loosened coronavirus restrictions, following a year-long lull due to the pandemic, wildlife parks say.

The strict limits on travel, including international travel, imposed in March last year had the happy side effect of keeping poachers at bay. In 2020, 394 rhinos were poached, 30% fewer than the year before and the lowest yearly tally since 2011.

But then South Africa began easing international travel restrictions in November.

“Since November, December last year and into 2021, this landscape and particularly Kruger National Park has been experiencing serious numbers of rhino poaching incidents,” says Jo Shaw, the Africa Rhino Lead for WWF International Network.

She declined to say how many incidents had occurred.

“There is a very real and realised threat as poaching pressure has increased since lockdown perhaps to meet the demand from the international markets,” she said.

Rhino poaching often involves both local poachers and international criminal syndicates that smuggle the high-value commodity across borders, often to Asia where demand is high.

Their methods are cruel: rhinos are sometimes shot with a tranquiliser gun before the horn is hacked off, resulting in the animal being left to bleed to death, Save the Rhino said on its website.

Other rhinos are killed with high-powered hunting rifles before the horn is removed, said Julian Rademeyer, director of the organised crime observatory for east and southern Africa at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime.

Reserves, which have been battling tighter budgets amid a coronavirus-induced lull in tourism, have also been forced to cut back on anti-poaching patrols, compounding the threat to rhinos.

Some reserves use dehorning as a way to prevent armed poachers from taking advantage of easier cross-border travel.

Veterinarians cut the horn at the stub, rather than removing it all, which prevents the rhino from bleeding to death. Balule Nature Reserve, located in the greater Kruger system has de-horned 100 rhinos since April 2019.

The country’s environmental ministry is expected to release its 2021 half-year poaching figures at the end of June.

“As restrictions over time have become less, there has been an uptick in poaching as a result,” said Rodemeyer.

South Africa has about 16 000 rhinos located within its borders, Frances Craigie, chief director of enforcement at the environmental ministry told Reuters.

But relentless poaching and drought in the North-East region has hit the rhino population hard. In the Kruger National Park, the number of rhinos has plummeted almost more than two-thirds in the last decade to around 3 800 in 2019 from 11 800 rhinos in 2008, a South African National Parks report showed.

Share article
Tags: Kruger National ParkRhinoCoronavirusSouth AfricaRhino poaching
Previous Post

Ramathuba says the Limpopo province aims to vaccinate 59 000 health workers

Next Post

Judgment reserved in PAC leadership case

Related Posts

A picture of bullets, a gun and police tape.

Criminal syndicate within ANC benefited from defunct VBS Bank: Mapaila

4 February 2023, 8:45 PM
A crime scene cordoned off.

VIDEO | Slain Limpopo woman Lindelani Nengovhela remembered at memorial service

4 February 2023, 5:33 PM
A man is pictured refilling bottles from a water tanker.

Communities in Free State continue to struggle to obtain basic services amid power cuts

4 February 2023, 4:08 PM
A resident walks in a flooded area.

Families in Matatiele left destitute following devastating storm

4 February 2023, 1:20 PM
A picture of jailbars at a police station

‘Gordonia Butcher’ gets 18 years for attempted murder of sister

4 February 2023, 1:04 PM
Inside of a prison

Northern Cape man slapped with three life sentences for raping minors

4 February 2023, 11:17 AM
Next Post
The IEC recently announced that Mzwanele Nyhontso was the legitimate leader of the PAC and that decision is being appealed in the courts by Narius Moloto.

Judgment reserved in PAC leadership case

Most Viewed

  • 24hrs
  • Week
  • Month
  • Registration at Unisa closes on Friday, but management says no need to panic
  • King of Bacardi music ‘Vusi Ma R5’ killed in Soshanguve
  • Committee wants to halt planned demolition of North West hospital
  • Shock over proposed SA sponsorship of Tottenham Hotspur
  • Malema threatens nationwide shutdown over power crisis, demands Ramaphosa resign
  • Parts of the Northern Cape to be exempted from rolling blackouts
  • Registration at Unisa closes on Friday, but management says no need to panic
  • VIDEO | St Benedict College’s Matric learner gets 11 distinctions
  • Limpopo matriculant from child-headed household attains diploma pass
  • Female circumcision practice thriving in Eastern Cape
  • VIDEO: Mabuza resigns as SA Deputy President
  • Three SA Tourism board members resign
  • Communities in Free State continue to struggle to obtain basic services amid power cuts
  • EFF vows to disrupt SONA
  • Qualified leaders needed for EFF to grow, says Malema

LATEST

Premier Sisi Ntombela lost the Free State ANC leadership contest to Cooperative Governance MEC, Mxolisi Dukwana.
  • Politics

Free State Premier says she’s yet to be informed of PEC outcomes


People attend the ecumenical prayer led by Pope Francis at John Garang Mausoleum during his apostolic journey, in Juba, South Sudan, February 4, 2023. REUTERS/Jok Solomun
  • Africa

Protect, advance women for a better South Sudan, pope says


Deputy President David Mabuza
  • Politics

UPDATE | David Mabuza’s resignation widely anticipated: Analysts


Rescuers use a crane to remove debris of a multistorey residential building damaged in recent shelling in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, February 4, 2023. REUTERS/Pavel Klimov
  • World

Ukraine’s Zelenskiy says situation at the front getting tougher


A picture of bullets, a gun and police tape.
  • South Africa

Criminal syndicate within ANC benefited from defunct VBS Bank: Mapaila


Mamelodi Sundowns registered 1-0 win over Orlando Pirates at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
  • Sport
  • Soccer

Sundowns’ DSTV Premiership dominance continues


Weather

  • About the SABC
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Site Map

SABC © 2023

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION

© 2022

Previous Ramathuba says the Limpopo province aims to vaccinate 59 000 health workers
Next Judgment reserved in PAC leadership case