This male white rhino is the latest victim of the illegal rhino horn trade.

A male white rhino was viciously struck down on Wednesday morning by poachers armed with AK-47 assault rifles. The bold attack reportedly occurred close to Masinda Camp in the iMfolozi Game Reserve.

The rhino’s body – with both horns sliced off – was discovered shortly after 9:00 AM by game rangers. Although the rhino was murdered close to staff living quarters, the poachers were not seen or heard.

According to information received from Tim Condon of the Zulu Wildlife eForum, this was the 14^th rhino to die at the hands of poachers in KZN this year. He believes this latest atrocity is the work an organized poaching syndicate.

This latest brazen poaching incident bears the hallmark of the “Rhino Mafia” who supply AK-47′s with silencers to their ground operatives. Suspicion must lay firmly at the doorstep of the “Roos” – “Mtuba” or “Kwambonambi” elements who are the poaching “big fish”.

Mr. Condon has requested that anyone with information please contact him via the Zululand Wildlife eForum on Facebook©.

Killing rhinos for traditional ‘medicines’

Use of rhino horn in traditional medicines in China and Vietnam is the greatest threat to rhinos today. The unwavering demand for rhino horn from these two countries is responsible for the escalation of illegally killed rhinos and laundered rhino horns from trophy hunts.

Although scientific analysis has confirmed that rhino horn actually contains no medical properties, persistent cultural myths claim that rhino horn is a “cure” for fever, anxiety, boils – and even “devil possession”.

Source: Tim Condon, Zululand Wildlife eForum; David Savides, Zululand Observer

Photo: Jasper Kaplan via Zululand Wildlife eForum

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

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