Blog: Asian rhinos face new threat
Asia’s remaining rhino herds are at risk from a new wave of poaching, conservationists say.
With probably fewer than 3,000 rhinos in the region, almost 100 have been killed in the last four years.
The campaigners say the UK should do more to suppress demand for rhino products.
The animals are also under pressure as their home areas are cleared for farming and timber.
The alert comes from WWF, the global conservation campaign, in a report, Wanted Alive: Asian rhinos in the wild.
There and in Malaysia the Sumatran rhinos, perhaps 300 in total, are “under relentless pressure from poaching”.
But WWF says the greater one-horned rhino has been “a terrific conservation success story of the last century”.
From only twelve animals a hundred years ago, the species has now recovered to about 2,400 in India and Nepal.
Yet the 86 animals killed by poachers in the last four years - a conservative figure - have died mainly in the two countries.
WWF says they were shot, speared, poisoned, electrocuted or trapped in pits.
It says: “The poachers are mainly in pursuit of rhino horn and other body parts, used in traditional Asian medicine systems to treat a wide range of illnesses.”
