Wildlife

Rhino poaching in South Africa

The number of rhinos killed illegally in South Africa has hit a new high with 393 of the animals killed for their horns between January and April.

A record number of 1,215 rhinos were killed last year in the country after being poached for their horns, but in just the first four months of 2015 a new record has been made, with an 18 per cent increase on the same period last year.

Of the rhinos killed this year so far, 290 were poached in the Kruger National Park, South African environment minister Edna Molewa said.

The vast park bordering Mozambique is home to the majority of South Africa's 20,700 rhinos, which are killed for their horns, used in traditional Asian medicine - mainly as an aphrodisiac to supposedly enhance the virility of elderly Chinese men.

Cruelty . . .

A policeman holds a water bottle with a live yellow-crested cockatoo put inside for illegal trade, at the customs office of Tanjung Perak port in Surabaya, East Java province, Indonesia. Police arrested one man traveling by ship from Makassar, Sulawesi with 22 of the endangered cockatoos held inside water bottles.