Pandemic restrictions lifted again puts rhinos at risk | Concern in South Africa

The drop in restrictions due to the coronavirus has generated a 50 percent increase in rhino poaching in South Africa, whereAt least 249 were hunted during the first half of this year.

The data has been confirmed by the Minister of the Environment, Barbara creecy, who explained that the drop in restrictions due to the pandemic “has favored an increase in rhino poaching”, with a significant increase in this activity in the provinces of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Free State, where there are many reserves of this mammal.

“We are in a position where efforts to tackle environmental crimes, such as rhino poaching, are influenced to some extent by the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” Creecy said.

The rising figures for the first half of this year follow a year 2020 in which poaching of these endangered large mammals was significantly reduced (-33 percent).

But this feat had been achieved in large part thanks to the exceptional circumstances imposed by the pandemic, in particular the limitations of movement both within the country and internationally.

In fact, South Africa kept its borders closed from late March 2020 until the following October, but, With the reopening of the country, at the end of last year there had already been an increase in deaths compared to the first half of 2020.

“While that number is higher than the number of rhinos killed for their horns in the same period last year, 166, it is less than the 318 rhinos that were hunted in the first six months of 2019,” said Cyril Ramaphosa’s government portfolio.

As usual, most of these new deaths (132) took place in Kruger National Park (northeast), one of Africa’s largest nature reserves and home to the bulk of the southern rhino population. -africans.

80% of the world’s rhino population lives in South Africa, a species threatened by poachers due to the high demand for its horns for traditional Asian medicine.

South Africa released these official figures on the occasion of the World Ranger Day, accompanied by a message of gratitude to those responsible for taking care of South African nature, even at the risk of their lives.

Therefore, despite the relative bad news so far this year, Minister Creecy considered that the multidisciplinary strategy applied by the South African government and the “work” of the actors involved continue to be a “success”, as she managed to reverse the trend of dangerous peaks rhino hunting had reached in the decade leading up to 2018.

Specifically, the alarms started ringing in 2008 – by 2007 only 13 rhinos had died – and soon after, in 2014, the most worrying figures were reached, with 1,215 specimens hunted.

This trend seriously endangers the survival of the species in the medium term. Poachers seek out rhino horns, which are mainly sold in Asian markets, where they are credited with healing and aphrodisiac properties.

In the informal market, the horn reaches values ​​between 60,000 and 80,000 dollars per kilo. It is estimated that 20,000 rhinos live in South Africa, which is by far the largest colony of these animals in the world.