Poaching: Blow the horns

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

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife rhino security manager Cedric Coetzee said that 161 rhino were poached in 2016 at state and private reserves compared to 116 the year before.

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

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

• WATCH: Rhino's dehorned in KZN to curb poaching bloodbathThe slaughter of rhino in KwaZulu-Natal has drastically increased over the last year‚ with nearly 40% more killed for their horns than in 2015.

"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 possibly softer targets being hit elsewhere.

"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 KwaZulu-Natal)," he said.

Coetzee said that anti-poaching operations in the province were tricky because there were more smaller reserves to patrol.

One of the methods used to try to 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 rhino had been dehorned last year.

"The decision was made to dehorn all rhinos to prevent any further possible threats.

"There is never any positive feedback because people would like to see animals 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 of the fact that we must do something," he said.

Derrick Grofe, manager at Gwahumbe Game Lodge, said similar measures were being implemented there.

"It is the way to go. In these small reserves they do not have to have territorial battles, so not having a horn is not a problem," he said.