JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) – South Africa lost a record number of rhinos in 2014 as big animals across Africa were relentlessly poached to meet rising demand for horn and ivory in newly affluent Asian countries or to provide meat to fighters in the bush.
From South Sudan, where conservationists say elephants are being slain by both government forces and rebels, to South Africa, where more than three rhinos are poached every day, there is an arc of illegal animal slaughter across the region.
South Africa is the centre of the rhino crisis as it is home to close to 20,000, or over 90 percent, of the world’s population of the animals.
Government figures for 2014 show that by mid-November 1,020 of the animals had been killed for their horns.
That tops the previous record of 1,004 from 2013 and experts say it will probably hit at least 1,200, an almost four-fold increase over 2010, when 333 were killed.
Pelham Jones, chairman of the Private Rhino Owners Association, told Reuters that his group believed that 1,171 rhinos had been illegally killed in South Africa by mid-December.
“It is a very safe but sad assumption that we will exceed the 1,200 mark in 2014,” he said.
There is legal hunting by permit of rhino, elephant and other big game in South Africa. But the numbers refer to illegal killings and trade in rhino horn is prohibited globally. Rhino horn is coveted in Vietnam and China as an ingredient in traditional medicine. Conservationists say it fetches up to $65,000 a kilo on the street, making it more valuable than gold.
The toll often rises in December, possibly because poaching syndicates want to stock up ahead of the Chinese New Year in February.
Many of the rhino poachers in South Africa come from neighbouring Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest countries where villagers are tempted by the promise of quick money.
