South Africa records 16% drop in rhino poaching

South Africa recorded a roughly 16% drop in rhino poaching last year, with 420 animals killed for their horns vs 499 the previous year, the government said on Thursday.

The country is home to nearly half of the critically endangered black rhino population in Africa and to the world's largest population of near-threatened white rhino.

Rhino horns — made primarily of keratin, a protein also found in human hair and fingernails — are prized in some East Asian countries for traditional medicine and jewellery.

Of the rhinos poached last year, 320 were killed on state properties and 100 on privately-owned parks, reserves or farms, environment minister Dion George said.

The minister partly attributed the year-on-year decline to a dehorning programme in KwaZulu-Natal, the hardest hit by poaching.

He was concerned by a recent uptick in rhino deaths in the world-famous Kruger National Park, much of which is remote and hard to police.

Eighty-eight rhino were poached in the park last year, up from 78 in 2023.

The government's strategies to clamp down on poaching include lie detector tests for staff in poaching hotspots such as the Kruger and Hluhluwe-iMfolozi parks, the minister said.

Separately, neighbouring Namibia said on Thursday it had seen an increase in rhino poaching last year, to 83 cases from 69 in 2023.