Any stories involving animal poaching are shocking just in their nature, but one story that has recently emerged from South Africa is particularly deplorable as it highlights how both the cruelty and sophistication of poachers is rising as rapidly as the number of animals they are preying on.

Fly-by Shooting

They came in a small helicopter, low over the Tugela Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu/Natal, and they were armed with a dart gun and a dangerous, potent tranquilizer.  They zoomed in on the previously identified white rhino cow, with a month-old calf at her side and fired the powerful drug into the animal’s thick hide.

She would have sunk unconscious to the ground within minutes, by which time the helicopter had landed. One of the poachers got out with a portable electric chainsaw and proceeded to remove both her horns in one action.

Discovered

The rhino cow should have died, but did not.  On June 25, between three and seven days after the incident, she was discovered together with several other rhino by a patrol.  Reserve owner Johan Geldenhuys was summoned.

Horrific Sight

“I immediately went across and had a look at the animal, and what a horrific sight,” he recalled. “We got there and basically from her eyes, just above the eyes was hacked down, right down to just above the lip taken out, and part of her skull, the whole nasal cavity has been cut with the skull and you know she was bleeding through the top end, between her eyes, the holes in the nasal cavity.”

Geldenhuys says after consultations and treatment by a vet, they decided not to euthanize the animal because she appeared strong, and calm, and because they hoped the calf was still alive in the vicinity.

But he says their hopes for the youngster were shattered a few days later when she was found dead near the spot where she had been born, having succumbed to starvation and dehydration.

The severely mutilated mother remains alive, under close surveillance by Geldenhuys, and continues to improve.  He says however, even if she does survive, she will have limitations.

“I reckon she has got a very good chance of surviving, of healing, although she will never be able to breathe, or to smell, to use the function of smell with her nose cavity being gashed out like that on the skull, and I think she will probably breathe through the top end of the nasal cavity below the eyes,” he said.

One of Many

Though this story is particularly disturbing, what is even sadder is that this is just one event among the 400 or so that have occurred just in South Africa since 2008. As quickly as authorities believe they are getting the upper hand on poaching and smuggling operations, the situation worsens. Experts say most rhino horn is now going to Vietnamese syndicates, whereas before the end-users were predominantly Chinese. Such changeability and the constant flow of resources to poachers mean that authorities are fighting an extremely tough battle.

How You Can Help

If stories such as this make you feel like you cannot sit by and let such activity carry on, then there is something you can do about it. There are two main options available to you.

The first is to join the WWF. By becoming a member, you will be providing a crucial source of funding for their operations and you’ll get regular updates on just how you are helping them to forward to course of conservation around the world.

The other option is to adopt a rhino with the WWF. This is a more targeted means of helping conservation, as you know that your donations will be going directly to helping projects to save the rhinos from a fate such as that described above. Just a small amount a month means that the WWF can help to protect more rhinos from poachers and ensure that we do not lose this magnificent species forever.