WATCH: Rhino's dehorned in KZN to curb poaching bloodbath

The slaughter of rhino in KwaZulu-Natal has drastically increased over the last year‚ with nearly 40% more killed for their horns than in 2015.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife rhino security manager Cedric Coetzee told TMGDigital on Tuesday that 161 rhino were poached in 2016 at state and private reserves. This is compared to 116 the year before.

The ongoing slaughter has caused reserves to take drastic measures‚ including dehorning their rhino to ward off poachers.

Coetzee said there was no single reason for the increase‚ other than the fact that there were more poachers operating than ever before.

“Syndicates are getting bigger and moving around more. They are getting more professional and more organised‚” he said.

Another theory is that increased anti-poaching efforts in the Kruger National Park – including the involvement of the military – was leading to targets that are perceived as being softer‚ being hit in other areas.

“There is that theory‚ and we are definitely catching people from that (Kruger) area‚ from Gauteng‚ Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Whether it’s that or not‚ we’re not quite sure. It could very well be‚ because they do have a lot more resources (than syndicates in KZN)‚” he said.

Coetzee said that anti-poaching in KZN was tricky because there are more smaller reserves with rhino‚ rather than one big reserve‚ such as Kruger.

“We’ve got to work a lot closer with a number of reserves‚” he said.

One of the methods being used to try deal with the poaching crisis is the dehorning of rhino. Coetzee said Ezemvelo “was implementing this” in some of its reserves and investigating it in others‚ but would not provide further details.

Armand du Toit‚ general manager at the Tala Private Game Reserve‚ near Pietermaritzburg‚ confirmed that five of the rhino there had been dehorned in the middle of last year. This was after an incident in which two rhino were killed in 2014.

“The decision was made to dehorn all rhinos to prevent any further possible incidents or threats. There is never any positive feed back because people would like to see animals in their natural environment with horns‚ but we had to make a decision on how to go forward in protecting our species.

“In saying that‚ despite the public response‚ with the help of RAVE (a private rhino protection unit)…we are feeling positive. The dramatic increase in rhino deaths just made us aware off the fact that we must do something‚” he said.

Derrick Grofe‚ manager at Gwahumbe Game Lodge and former manager at Tala‚ said similar measures were being implemented.

“It is the way to go ‚ I would rather have them alive and with no horn. In these small reserves they do not have to have territorial battles‚ so it (not having a horn) is not a problem‚” he said.