First Western Cape rhino poached

2011-01-27 22:56

Johannesburg - A rhino was poached in the Western Cape for the first time at the Botlierskop private game reserve near Mossel Bay on Thursday, the reserve owner said.

Reserve owner Arnold Neethling said a white rhino bull, about 12 years old, was found poached at 09:30 on Thursday morning with its horns chopped off.

"We spotted it last night at about 19:45 and this morning on the daily checks we found it dead in the middle of a field."

He said it must have been done in the middle of the night when there was a lot of rain because it was in quite a busy area.

"We are hoping that someone saw something. If anyone saw anything they can go to the police or come to us."

He said it was a "real tragedy" and what bothered the most was that it was being done by organised crime

"This is a problem that the society of South Africa would have to solve," Neethling said.

"Once poachers have killed all the rhinos they would simply move onto another species."

- SAPA