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Rhino Cow Shot Dead In South Africa Discovered By Anti-Poaching Aircraft

Rhino Cow Shot Dead In South Africa Discovered By Anti-Poaching Aircraft

Flying 4 Rhino and Conservation Trust workers came across the harrowing scene

Rachael Grealish

Rachael Grealish

The animal kingdom is mourning again at the hands of humans after a rhino cow has been shot and killed.

An anti-poaching aircraft came across the scene of a rhino lying dead among the South African shrubs.

It was then announced, by the Flying 4 Rhino and Conservation Trust, a rhino cow had been killed by poachers.

Carina Timcke, from the Flying 4 Rhino and Conservation Trust, told LADbible: "It is very heartbreaking when a rhino is killed, not only for the people who care for the rhino but very often the cows have a calf and they are then left motherless and defenseless suffering massive trauma.

Flying4Rhino

"Often the calf is hacked with an ax because of it squealing after the mother is shot and the poachers are hacking the mothers horn off."

The Trust confirmed more than 1,200 rhinos were killed last year due to poaching - a tragic and sobering statistic.

Carina said: "The rhino we lost was a white rhino cow and unfortunately in our line of work we see this kind of thing far too often.

"At the rate rhinos are being poached in South Africa, and looking at the statistics in 2017, it equates to nearly three rhinos killed every day.

"Obviously that is in the whole country not only in the area we operate in."

Flying4Rhino

But with every cloud is a silver lining as Carina explained there is hope in the form of new life.

"We were fortunate enough to witness the birth of a new baby," She said, but quickly added the concern, "But with that now comes the fear of losing the mother."

The Trust is striving to combat the horrific actions of poachers, who want the Rhinos for their horns.

"These animals will go extinct if we don't do our jobs to protect them," Carina explained.

"The demand is massive for the horn.

"At the moment with the figures we are almost in negative progeny. The poachers are well funded and equipped but we battle to keep funding coming in to fly patrols."

Flying 4 Rhinos currently have two different types of operational flights.

They are on constant standby, if a track of poachers entering an area are detected then ground units will call for air support, the Trust then put the aircraft up and assist ground units in locating and arresting suspects.

With their aircraft policing, the Trust has reduced poacher activity in the area by up to 92 percent.

The charity relies on donations to fund its operations and believes that a lack of funding is the reason the white rhino cow was found shot dead.

Carina said: "We don't have the funds all the time to keep aircraft on patrol. If we had a constant flow of funding we would have been in a position not to have lost the last rhino."

Extinct: A race against time to save our endangered species. Read more from our campaign here

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Featured Image Credit: Flying 4 Rhino

Topics: Extinct, News, rhino