In our concern for the bloodbath that poachers perpetrate in South Africa, we sometimes forget that the scourge of rhino poaching is not limited to just our country.
Although indications are that SA saw a slight decline in poaching numbers during 2015, some of our neighbouring countries, especially Namibia, has reported a dramatic increase in the number of rhino lost to poachers.
All in all it seems rhino poaching in Africa is at a record high, as recently reported by the Mail&Guardian. Sources indicate that 1 175 rhino were killed in SA during 2015 – slightly down from the 1 215 lost during 2014. It was recently reported that Namibia lost 80 rhinos to poachers in 2015, an increase of 400% over 2014.
Poachingfacts.com has a handy and well-researched page on poaching statistics, containing a rundown of the latest figures available for many of the countries with rhino populations.
No recent figures are available for Botswana, where significant investments have been made in the past several years to protect wildlife from a poaching onslaught.
While no 2015 figures are available, poaching in both India and Kenya seems to have peaked in 2013, with lower numbers reported during 2014. Here’s hoping the 2015 numbers show a continuation of that trend.
In India the peak number in 2014 was 40 rhinos poached and in Kenya 59. In Kenya poaching numbers for the areas that are not under Kenya Wildlife Service management are not always available, though.