11-Mar-10 4:00 PM CST

31 rhinos killed in South Africa

Nelspruit - The slaughtering of rhinos in SA is continuing unabatedly.

According to Juan de Beer, manager of the protected species unit at the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA), 31 rhinos have been killed in the country so far this year.

"Two of those rhinos were killed in the Loskop Dam Nature Reserve in Mpumalanga, and 10 in the Kruger National Park," said De Beer.

"The other provinces where poaching is rife are North West, with nine killings, and Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal, with four killings each. The Free State has reported two rhinos killed for their horns."

De Beer said he suspected that poachers might be using aircraft to track and kill the rhinos in both private game reserves and national parks.

Early days

"I say this because sometimes the carcasses are found with poisoned darts in them, which shows that the animal has been darted from the sky. This can only happen if the poacher is using a helicopter."

White rhinos are being targeted more than their black counterparts, according to De Beer.

"That's because the black rhino is an endangered species, with few of them to be found, while white rhinos are simply protected and still occur in much larger numbers than their black counterparts."

According to the general manager of public relations, media and stakeholder relations at South African National Parks (SANParks), Reynold Thakuli, it was still "early days" for the hi-tech anti-poaching measures that the organisation had announced in October 2009.

These included aircraft, motorbikes and night-vision equipment for section rangers, as well as the appointment of 57 new field rangers.

"It's still too early to say it's been a failure," Thakuli said, adding that the army would patrol the Kruger National Park's eastern boundary with to Mozambique "later this year" to help curb poaching.

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