Almost 100 rhino were killed in Zimbabwe in 2008, double the total in the previous year according to Save the Rhino International and WWF.

Conservationists cite the breakdown of law enforcement in Zimbabwe as the cause of the increase and in the absence of political and economic stability in this beleaguered Southern African country, the situation is unlikely to improve for the rhinos.

Organized criminal gangs hunt rhinos to remove their horns which are used in traditional Asian medicine in Asia and ceremonial dagger handles in the Yemen.

Raoul Du Toit of WWF said: “rhino poachers were people with cars, cell phones and expensive lawyers, not villagers desperate for food. The repercussions for the country’s international image and the economic implications are a lot more serious than the politicians and the ministers realize”.

According to Cathy Dean of Save the Rhino International, Zimbabwe’s rhino population declined from about 830 in 2007 to 740 at the end of 2008 despite an excellent birth rate in monitored herds. At least 90 rhino were poached in 2008, twice the toll of the previous year, and conservation groups had counted 18 killed so far in 2009.

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