![]() ![]() With it’s vast expanse, significant rhino population, and its border with Mozambique that’s often been used as a trafficking route, Kruger National Park has been hit hard since the poaching crisis began in 2008. From 2007-2014 the country experienced an exponential rise in rhino poaching – a growth of more than 9,000%. South Africa has by far the largest population of rhinos in the world and is an incredibly important country for rhino conservation. While anti-poaching measures are still a high priority, it’s important that we don’t forget the other tools in the box: biological management, community engagement, capacity building, national and international coordination, and putting in place the long-term sustainable financing needed for important rhino conservation programmes. One of the challenges that the ongoing poaching crisis brings is that it diverts attention from other actions that are important for rhinos to thrive in the future. Without urgent action, their numbers could dwindle. The long-term impact of the poaching crisis, and the extended periods of drought, are taking their toll. They’ve had no time to recover from ruthless poaching that’s taken place throughout the last decade. Rhino populations, particularly in key strongholds such as Kruger National Park, in South Africa, have fallen dramatically. Many simply won’t be able to protect their rhinos much longer if they can’t secure more funding. Private reserves and national parks are struggling to have enough funds for everyday maintenance. Many rhino reserves only just about made it through the pandemic, with income from tourism, their main source of support, almost entirely cut off. And now poachers are moving into new areas that have been hit hard by Covid-19. South Africa’s rhino population has dropped dramatically in recent years. But these latest figures have confirmed our fears that the effects were short-lived. One such park that’s been in the midst of a poaching crisis is Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, in KwaZulu-Natal.Ĭathy Dean, CEO of Save the Rhino International, says, “In 2020 we were thankful that the pandemic had, at least, brought some good news for conservation. However, poaching gangs have now shifted their focus away from the large national parks (poaching in Kruger has declined significantly in recent years), into smaller provincial parks in other areas. We’re thankful, at least, that the overall trajectory for rhino poaching in South Africa remains on its downward trend. Unfortunately, this meant that as those restrictions started to lift, criminal syndicates started to seize their opportunities to find rhinos again, causing poaching to increase by 13% since 2020. As lockdowns were in force across the world, and in particular, curfew laws in place in South Africa, it would have been much harder for poachers to get into a reserve to kill a rhino and then smuggle its horn out of the country, without being noticed. It’s likely that this change was due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, rhino poaching increased in South Africa for the first time in six years. Thankfully, it’s still a decline, but with a rhino poached in the country every 20 hours, it’s not time for celebration. In 2022, 448 rhinos were killed in South Africa, a decrease of three compared to 2021. The latest poaching numbers from South Africa South Africa holds the majority of the world’s rhinos and has been the country hit hardest by poaching criminals, with more than 1,000 rhinos killed each year between 20. ![]() Yet, at least one rhino is still killed every day: there is a lot more that we must do. Thankfully, poaching numbers have decreased across the continent since the peak of 1,349 in 2015. ![]() The current rhino poaching crisis began in 2008, with increasing numbers of rhino killed for their horn throughout Africa until 2015. *The 20 African-wide poaching figure is estimate based on most recent news reports (these have not been officially released for all countries). ![]()
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