Authorities say 87 rhinos have been killed final yr in contrast with 45 in 2021, most of them poached from the nation’s largest park.
The variety of endangered rhinos poached in Namibia reached an all-time excessive final yr after 87 animals have been killed in contrast with 45 in 2021, official authorities information has proven.
Africa’s rhino inhabitants has been decimated over the many years to feed the demand for rhino horn, which, regardless of being made from the identical materials as rhino hair and fingernails, is prized in East Asia as a supposed medication and as jewelry.
On Monday, Ministry of Atmosphere, Forestry and Tourism spokesperson Romeo Muyunda mentioned poachers killed 61 black and 26 white rhinos primarily in Namibia’s largest park, Etosha, the place 46 rhinos have been discovered lifeless.
“We word with critical concern that our flagship park, Etosha Nationwide Park, is a poaching hotspot,” Muyunda mentioned, including that the ministry and legislation enforcement officers have stepped up efforts in opposition to wildlife crime within the park to curb poaching.
The Southern African nation is home to the one free-roaming black rhinos left on the earth and likewise accounts for a 3rd of the world’s remaining black rhinos.
Rhino poaching has plagued Southern Africa for many years, particularly in neighbouring South Africa and Botswana, resulting in anti-poaching programmes, together with strict policing and dehorning, or eradicating horns from the rhinos as a manner of discouraging poaching.
Namibia can be dwelling to the second-largest white rhino inhabitants on the earth after South Africa.
The Save the Rhino Belief estimates there are about 200 free-roaming black rhinos in Namibia, primarily within the northeast.
In the meantime, elephant poaching in Namibia has declined through the years, from a excessive of 101 in 2015 to a low of 4 elephants poached final yr.
