South Africa Relocates Rhinos After Record Number Were Poached in 2014

Unable to curb poaching of rhinos within its borders, the South African government has relocated 100 rhinos to
A white rhino in Kruger National Park.
neighboring countries in an effort to stem the illegal slaughter of the animals, Reuters reports. For security reasons, officials did not reveal to which countries the rhinos had been relocated. An additional 56 rhinos were moved from poaching hotspots within South Africa’s Kruger National Park — where two-thirds of the killings happen — to an “intensive protection zone” within Kruger, officials said. Poachers killed a record number of the animals in South Africa last year — 1,215 rhinos, up 20 percent from the 2013 total — and 49 have been killed so far this year. The animals are hunted intensely because their horns, which some Asian cultures incorrectly believe contain medicinal properties, are worth an estimated $65,000 per kilogram on the black market.