Zimbabwe rhino poaching on the rise

Rhino poaching is on the increase in Zimbabwe, still home to the world’s fourth largest population of critically endangered Black Rhino. Rhino killings have increased more than twofold in the country in the past year. Poachers continue to walk away scot free in atmosphere of impunity. Law enforcement is inadequate and there is almost certainly involvement of officials. Ecowordly Earlier this year, Raoul du Toit warned that Zimbabwe’s rhino poachers were not villagers desperate for food, but organized criminal gangs – people with “cars, cell phones, and expensive lawyers.” Organized criminal gangs kill rhinos to sell the valuable horn that is used as a traditional medicine in Asia and carved for ceremonial dagger handles. Zimbabwe’s rhino population declined from about 830 in 2007 to 740 at the end of 2008 despite an excellent birth rate in monitored herds,
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