South Africa: Spotlight On Rhino Poaching

Pretoria — Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa will on Monday brief the media on the increasing incidents of rhino poaching and measures taken to address this scourge.

The minister is expected to paint a blink picture of South Africa's rhino bloodbath, which is surging on privately owned reserves as criminal syndicates target easier prey for the Asian black market.

The rhino population in South Africa was on the brink of extinction in the early 1960's. Last year, 333 rhino were killed at South African National Parks reserves, nearly three times more than in 2009, when 122 rhino were killed. In 2007, only 13 were poached.

This year, more than 159 rhino have been killed in the Kruger alone. Altogether, 124 suspected rhino poachers have been arrested nationwide, 62 of whom were arrested in the Kruger.