We are fighting a losing battle, every 21 hours a rhino is being killed for nothing. They say; if it doesn't stop, we won't have any rhinos left in the wild in 5 years time. In 1910, South Africa was said to have 100 white rhinos. With great care and good management, the number has increased to 19000 today. From 1970 to 2000, over 90% of the world population of rhinos dropped.
There are also roughly 2000 black rhinos in the country. In 1960, there were 100000 in Africa outside South Africa, but by 1970 that population had fallen to 65000, and today there are only 3150. If there had been no poaching from 1970, the black-rhino population in the rest of Africa, at its natural growth rate of 6% a year, would have increased to 700000 today.
The horns are made of keratin, just like our hair or fingernails. It doesn’t have any medicinal value!!!!!! We can grind down our fingernails and toenails and sell that, they won’t know the difference. Unfortunately a Black Market has developed for these horns, knowing that 1 horn can weigh anything from 2kg -10kg and that 1kg of horn is worth R140,000!
There were 448 rhinos poached in South Africa last year, of which 252 were killed in the Kruger National Park. To this number can be added about 200 rhinos shot in the country by trophy hunters for the horn trade, along with rhinos poached in Zimbabwe (28), Kenya (27) and Swaziland (two). This makes 705 rhinos out of an African population of 26000, or 2,7%.
What are we going to do about this???????
We can make the public aware of the current war that is raging.
Wear BLACK every Friday, for rhino awareness!
We can donate money to Anti Poaching Units that are fighting the battle on behalf of the rhinos.
SMS: Rhino to 32026 and you will donate R1 towards saving a rhinos life!!!!!
Visit http://www.uniteagainstpoaching.co.za/
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” ~Martin Luther King Jr.
