Recent rhino killing in India reminds us of ongoing and serious threats from poaching

Today I learned that the mother of a newly born rhino calf was killed by poachers in Manas National Park, India. (An update on how the orphan calf is doing can be found here.) This is the latest example of the current poaching crisis that is threatening the survival of rhinoceroses around the world. Sadly, the slaughter of rhinos for their horns is nothing new.

 Orphaned rhino baby being taken in monitoring facility after mother rhino was killed by poachers. © WWF-India

In 1982, a year after I graduated from university, I had the opportunity to work in Northern Canada and make some real money for the first time in my life. After my contract ended I did what any young man should do when he has a pocket full of cash: I packed-up my camera gear and travelled to Africa for an extended camping safari through Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.
My main goal for this trip—in addition to visiting Zanzibar and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro—was of course to see and photograph the amazing wildlife. And of all the animals I expected to see, the ones I was most looking forward were rhinoceroses, which had been one of my favourite animals ever since I was a kid.
Before leaving for Africa, I naturally read as much as I could about the natural history of the region. And when it came to rhinos, all the books I read said the same thing: that white rhinos were endangered, but black rhinos were a common animal in East Africa. In fact, there were supposed to be more than 60,000 black rhinos roaming the savannah.
So you can imagine my shock and dismay when I arrived in Tanzania and discovered that most of the black rhinos were long gone. The population of black rhinos, which once numbered in the hundreds of thousands and ranged across most of most of East and South Africa, was down to less than 10,000 animals. Rhinos were being wiped out for their horns which are considered a potent and (highly valuable) ingredient in traditional Asian medicine; and it seemed like the world hadn’t noticed. It was the plight of the black rhinoceros— and the lack of public awareness of their dire situation—that convinced me that I needed to steer my career to wildlife conservation.

Orphaned rhino baby being cared for in monitoring facility after mother rhino was killed by poachers. © WWF-India

The numbers of black rhinos continued to drop after I left Africa. Today there are less than 5,000 black rhinos left in the wild. Most of the other rhino species are faring even worse: there are approximately 2575 Indian rhinos; less than 275 Sumatran; and only 40-60 Javan rhinos left. The only species that is not critically endangered (now) is the white rhinoceros, of which there are 20,000, mainly in South Africa.
These numbers are actually better than they were in 1995, when the number of black rhinos was down to 2,500 animals and there were only around 10,000 white rhinos. That’s what is so incredibly, horribly frustrating—up until a few years ago it looked like we were winning the battle to save rhinos. Then a new market for illegal rhino horn suddenly opened-up in Vietnam. Organised criminals in South Africa were quick to capitalize and suddenly the poaching of rhinos increased dramatically. And the numbers killed every year have grown since. Last year 668 rhinos were killed in South Africa—a 50% increase over the previous year. Of course rhinos aren’t being poached just in South Africa, as testified by the sad story from Manas National Park.
TRAFFIC and WWF are working very hard to end this current poaching crisis both by supporting anti-poaching efforts in Africa and Asia; and by pushing to reduce the market for illegal rhino horn. But saving rhinos isn’t going to be easy—it’s going to take huge resources, hard work and high-level cooperation between nations. But really, what is the alternative? The extinction of any rhino species is too horrible to contemplate.