The Chief Executive Officer of South African National Parks (SANParks), Dr David Mabunda, announced at Pretoria today that in 2010 South Africa lost 333 rhino with 162 suspected poachers having been arrested in relation to the crime.
"The year 2010 will always be remembered as being one of the worst years for conservation in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) because of the ruthless assault on our rhino populations by merciless criminals", said Dr Mabunda.
The worst hit areas were the Kruger National Park (KNP) with 146 rhino lost, North West province with 57 rhino, Limpopo province with 52 rhino, KwaZulu-Natal province with 38 rhino. The provinces with the least number of rhino or no rhino at all were least targeted by the criminals.
In the full year 162 people linked to the crime at various levels were arrested, ranging from actual poachers to couriers and kingpins. "The number of arrests made is considered to be an indication of the meaningful interventions brought by the National Wildlife Crime Reaction Unit (NWCRU) and the collective co-operation by different stakeholders as the figure for arrests in the KNP alone for 2009 was 29 people and in 2010 the park arrested 67 suspects".
Whereas SANParks lost 146 rhino in the KNP, the Provincial Conservation Authorities put together clocked 105 rhino whilst private game reserve owners lost 82 rhinos. Of the 333 rhino lost throughout the country white rhino comprised 323 of the animals poached and 10 black rhino.
The country is currently home to about 19,400 white rhino, of which between 9,000 and 12,000 of them are found in the KNP, and 1 678 black rhinos. The white rhino population in the country is growing at a rate of between 3% and 6%, whilst the black rhino population is growing at 3%. In the Kruger National Park alone natural mortalities in the rhino populations for males accounted for 1.7% and females 0.7% and with the inclusion of poaching figures it was at 3% for males and 2.1% for females in 2010.