The top 10 Rhino stories - beyond despair

[tabatha]

#10: Poison rhino horn
The controversial topic of injecting rhino horns with poison emerged when a man in South Africa finally became fed up with the country’s tragic rhino poaching situation. The idea was to poison the rhino horns – without harming the rhinos – so that when consumers use “medicines” derived of horns from illegally killed rhinos, they become sick or possibly die.

#8: China’s rhino farm revealed
After wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC found that China was buying an unusually large number of rhinos from Africa, we took a closer look. Our research revealed that China is already farming rhinos in order to use rhino horn in traditional Chinese medicine. We believe that China is preparing for an attempt to have the ban on rhino horn trade lifted.

#6: South Africa’s rhino death toll surpasses 300

#4: The ex-supermodel
Apparently oblivious to the fact that four of the five rhino species are teetering at the edge of extinction because of myths and superstitions about rhino horn, aging beauty Elle Macpherson said publicly that rhino horn tastes like “crushed bone and fungus” and it “does the job”. Macpherson later claimed she was just kidding about consuming rhino horn.

#2 TIE: Rhino horn myths debunked
Myths and superstitions about rhino horn have made rhinos one of the most endangered animals on earth. But what else do we know about rhino horn – this magnificent protuberance that gives the rhino its unmistakably noble profile?

#1: The Groenewald gang
The world was shocked when several well-known people from South Africa’s rhino industry were arrested in connection with the killing of hundreds of the pachyderms and selling their horns to Asian markets. Two veterinarians, two safari operators, and a professional hunter were among nine people arrested during a police raid that spanned across Polokwane, Musina, and Modimolle. It was especially galling that the suspects were granted bail on World Rhino Day, and the case postponed until April 2011.

http://www.rhinoconservation.org/2010/12/21/top-ten-rhino-stories-of-2010/#more-8242

The last one hit home harder than most, because these people come from an area where we lived when I was a child and learned to know and love wildlife. Some of the farmers that we knew who have since departed, would be outraged as many are -

http://www.rhinoconservation.org/2010/11/30/south-africans-get-airborne-in-grassroots-efforts-to-protect-rhinos/