48 rhinos poached in 8 months
The first eight months of 2022 saw 48 rhinos poached, four times more than the rhinos poached in 2021, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism announced on Wednesday.
The country recorded 44 rhinos poached in 2021, 42 in 2020, 57 in 2019, 83 in 2018, and 55 in 2017.
The Etosha National Park alone saw 20 cases this year, with two carcasses discovered in the area just last week. In total, 32 poached rhinos are black and 16 are white.
A total of 12 black rhinos were poached on custodianship farms and 16 white rhinos were poached on private farms.
Ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda said poaching has become more prevalent at private farms as well as black rhino custodianship farms.
“We are busy implementing new measures across the board to counter this surge,” he said.
Muyunda said anti-poaching units in private farms are being strengthened and law enforcement officials are being deployed to assist private farmers with intelligence, law enforcement, and patrols.
“We will also be availing the services of our helicopter for aerial patrols in hotspot areas,” Muyunda said.
He said while the ministry, along with its stakeholders will pull resources together in stopping the new surge in poaching, members of the public must remain vigilant and report any suspected case of poaching and other wildlife crimes.
