nearly 500 rhinos were victims of poaching in 2023, a figure on the rise

The number of rhinos killed increased by 11% last year compared to 2022 despite government efforts to protect this animal whose horns are highly sought after.

Nearly 500 rhinos were killed last year in South Africa by poachers, an increase of 11% compared to 2022 despite the government’s efforts to protect this animal, the authorities announced on Tuesday February 27. The country, where the majority of the world’s rhinos live, is particularly victim of poaching fueled by demand from Asia, where its horn is used in traditional medicine for its supposed therapeutic effects. On the markets, the price of horns, by weight, rivals that of gold or cocaine.

According to the South African Department of the Environment, 499 of these mammals were killed in 2023, most of them in state-owned parks. The majority were culled in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal, where Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, Africa’s oldest reserve, alone lost 307 animals. “These are the largest losses due to poaching recorded in this province”declared Minister Barbara Creecy. “Multidisciplinary teams continue to work tirelessly to try to slow this pressure.”

Around fifty poachers arrested

In recent years, South African authorities have strengthened security, particularly around the Kruger National Park, close to Mozambique and very popular with tourists, which has seen its rhino population fall drastically over the past 15 years. These efforts have resulted in a drop in the number of these animals killed by poachers with fewer than 78 deaths in 2023, or 37% less than the year before in this park. But this also led poachers to turn to other reserves, regional or private, such as that of Hluhluwe-Imfolozi.

Law enforcement arrested 49 suspected poachers last year in KwaZulu-Natal, Barbara Creecy said. And in the country, 45 rhino horn poachers or traffickers have been convicted by the courts, she added. Among them, a former park ranger was sentenced to ten years in prison for killing a rhino and later claiming to have been charged by the animal. Since 2023, national parks have required new employees to take a lie detector test, fearing that some may be in cahoots with poachers.