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 Namibia Nashorn Wilderer infographic
Grafik zeigt die Zahl der in Namibia gewilderten Rhinos seit 2014.
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ENVIRONMENT

Hoher Anstieg gewilderter Nashörner in Namibia

By Duncan Mil

January 31, 2023 - Die Zahl der gewilderten Nashörner, obwohl geschützt, in Namibia in 1922 war die höchste in vier Jahren – gegenüber 2021 gab es sogar eine Verdoppelung – angetrieben durch den illegalen Handel mit Hörnern.

Namibia, home to the only free-roaming black rhinos left in the world, recorded 87 cases of rhino poaching last year, compared with 45 in all of 2021 and 30 in 2020.

One rhino poaching incident has been recorded in 2023 so far. That brings the total tally of rhinos poached since 2014 to 504.

Gangs have decimated Africa’s rhino population to feed the demand for rhino horn, which, despite being made of keratin -- the same stuff as hair and fingernails -- is prized in East Asia as a supposed medicine, aphrodisiac and as jewellery.

At least 54 per cent of all rhino horn seizures worldwide involve citizens from China and Vietnam.

With the price of African rhinoceros tusks surging to more than US$60,000 per kilogram, they are now almost as valuable as gold. And with the weight of tusks often reaching two kilograms, poaching is again on the rise in Namibia.

Wealthy buyers bid for antique rhino horn carvings to display or as investments. A report by the World Wildlife Fund’s trade monitoring programme, TRAFFIC, described how wealthy Vietnamese and Asians would “routinely mix rhino horn powder with water or alcohol as a general health and hangover-curing tonic.” That group also included men who believed rhino horn could cure impotence and enhance sexual performance.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 31/01/2023; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Pictures: Getty Images, IFAW via Flickr
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