Did you know they killed a rhino to steal less than 1 cm of horn?
A few days ago, we at Mega Curioso shared here the news of poachers who raided a reserve in Africa to steal rhino horns and, before they wanted to, ended up being killed and partially devoured by a pack of lions. You can check out the full story through this link, but the fact is, most of the time, it is humans who come out with the best in these situations, unfortunately.
A few days before the case of the devoured hunters, images and information were released about a rhino female named Bella who was killed so that less than an inch of horn - yes, dear reader, killed the animal because of mere millimeters! - was stolen. Bella's carcass was discovered on June 28 in the reserve where she lived, the Kragga Kamma in South Africa.
Revolting
According to Kara Goldfarb of All That Is Interesting, Bella was 20 years old and left a 16-month-old pup named Tank orphan. The female was still nursing the little one, and the little rhino was found wandering near her mother's body. According to Kara, the reserve staff had removed Bella's horn a week before the incident, but even so, the hunters shot down the matriarch and cut off her face to extract the remaining horn.
Early removal of the horn was part of an initiative to protect animals from being sacrificed by criminals. However, the greed is so great that even with mere millimeters of material left over, the rhino was brutally killed. By the way, we mentioned in the beginning of the article that most of the time, it is humans who come out with the best of encounters with these animals, right?
As Kara found, while in 2007 there were 13 rhino deaths in South African reserves - related to theft of horns - over the next 10 years, that number jumped to over 1, 000. This increase is associated with high demand for the material, which is widely used for medicinal purposes in various parts of Asia and Africa, and the high values that the horns reach on the black market, of course.
High demand
To give you an idea, hunters can get from $ 3, 000 (less than $ 11, 400) for less than half a pound of horn in South Africa to over $ 300, 000 (over $ 1)., 1 million) for an entire horn in Southeast Asia. And because there is no shortage of buyers willing to shell out these fortunes, rhinos are constantly at risk.
In an effort to protect animals, reserves are required to put in place all sorts of security measures, such as keeping armed escorts around the clock, developing informant networks, setting up observation points, hiring aerial surveillance, anything that helps preserve the lives of rhinos.
Although reserve officials have collected evidence from where Bella was found, investigations have yet to reveal any suspects. As for the rhino calf, he is a little less stressed, has been fed with cow's milk and has received all the necessary care.
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