Two N West rhinos killed

November 14 2010 at 05:53pm

Two rhinos were poached and another two wounded at a game park near Klerksdorp, North West police said on Sunday.
The first carcass was discovered on Saturday morning, police spokeswoman Captain Adele Myburgh said.

“The owner of the game park... went to inspect the camp. He stumbled upon the (carcass) of a white rhino bull with an estimated value of R1-million.

“The horn was removed, The carcass was still quite fresh.”

Myburgh said the bull was worth so much because it had been used for breeding.

She said on Sunday, a helicopter was combing the area and spotted another rhino carcass. This white rhino bull was worth about R350 000 and had also had its horn removed.

Another two wounded rhino cows were spotted from the helicopter.

“Their horns had not been removed, but they had been shot and wounded. One of the cows, they will have to shoot it because it was very badly injured.”

The other cow was proving difficult to track down as she was frightened after being shot and wounded.

No arrests had been made.

In Limpopo on Saturday, one man was arrested after a rhino was shot and killed on a farm in Naboomspruit. Lieutenant Colonel Ronel Otto said a farmer and his workers were patrolling the farm when they heard gunshots just after 5am.

“They went to investigate and they found a rhino dead after it had been shot.”

More than 20 people have been arrested countrywide in separate cases involving rhino poaching since September.

At least 210 rhinos have been killed for their horns since the beginning of this year up from a total of 122 poached last year.

Black-market demand for rhino horns has risen sharply as economic growth has spread through east and south-east Asia, where the horn was falsely believed to have medicinal properties. - Sapa