Buffet Foundation Donates $23.7 Million to Combat Rhino Pouching in South African National Park
March 21, 2014 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis While pouching has always been a problem on the African continent, over the last several years, the decimation of rhino populations in South Africa’s Kruger National Park has accelerated at a frightening rate, and conservation groups as well as investment institutions are stepping up efforts to help.
Protecting the African rhino. Photo courtesy of South Africa’s Kruger National Park.
SANParks (the South African National Parks system) reported last year a total of 1,004 rhinos were pouched in country, up from 668 pouched in 2012, and 448 pouched in 2011.
The rampant pouching is increasing, and the latest report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) found that, “This year alone, 172 rhinos have been poached since January with 113 of those occurring in the Kruger National Park.”
To add to the significance, “Kruger is currently home to over 40 percent of the world’s remaining 22,000 rhinos, the largest single population of rhinos in the world,” says SANParks.
In response to the worsening situation, authorities have continued stepping up their prevention efforts. SANParks reported that last year, the number of people arrested for rhino poaching-related offenses climbed to 343, with 133 of them in the Krugar National Park. Since the beginning of 2014, six alleged poachers have been arrested.
SANParks says that Kruger’s poaching problem is fueled mainly by illicit criminal networks in Mozambique, South Africa, and East Asia, but evidence suggests that armed groups elsewhere in Africa derive significant funding from poaching activities.”