The slaughter of a white rhino named Heide from Thula Thula private game reserve brings the year’s total in KZN to 17. Just two days ago, another white rhino was killed at the Intaba Ingwe game ranch nearby.

Efforts to keep Heide safe from poachers were simply not enough. According to The Witness, the young rhino had even been assigned a tracker in hopes of keeping her safe from poachers.

Sadly, she vanished and her carcass was found yesterday, with her horn hacked out of her face.

Operators of Thula Thula Lawrence Anthony and Francoise Malby-Anthony said in the article that only two white rhino remain on their reserve. Heide was born on Thula Thula seven years ago.

The recent slaughter of rhinos in the province is being investigated by members of the police Organised Crime Units. They noted that the case appears similar to others in Opathe and Mfozolo.

Experts agree that the rising affluence in China is directly related to what can only be described as an organized, deliberate mass slaughter of rhinos. Evidence is emerging that poaching cartels are fulfilling “orders” for rhino horn (and elephant ivory) at the request of Chinese nationals – who reportedly pay a fee to smuggle the horns from Africa to Asia.

Recently,  four men and a woman of Chinese origin from Ulundi were arrested for illegally entering the Opathe game reserve, where at least 11 rhino have been poached this year. The Zululand Observer reported the following regarding the poaching of eight white rhinos in Opathe-Emakhoseni Heritage Park (OEHP):

Developments regarding the OEHP incidents have since seen four men and a woman, all of Chinese origin, appear in the Babanango Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday this week, following their arrest inside OEHP near Ulundi. They were found trespassing, as the reserve has been temporary closed to the public, pending the appointment of a new manager for the park. They were not asked to plead to any charges and the case was postponed pending further investigations. Those who appeared are Pingquan Ni (37), Shuiwang Wu (37), Daxin Zhang (42), Xiufu Lin (32) and Meixia Zhu (26). They own businesses in Ulundi.

Rhinoceros poaching will be further discussed at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES, which will be held in Doha, Qatar March 13-25, 2010.

But can the rhinos wait that long?

Image source: flickr.com/photos/29823271@N05/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

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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See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.