Wildlife

Poachers Force Massive Rhino Evacuation

Hundreds of endangered rhinos will be evacuated from one of the largest national parks in Africa, according to the South African government.

The evacuation effort aims to protect the rhinos in South Africa's Kruger National Park from poachers, by moving the animals away from regions of high population density to safer areas.

The move comes in response to the country's rising problem with illegal poaching. Last year, poachers killed a record 1,004 rhinos in South Africa — more than double the number slaughtered in 2011 and astronomically higher than the 13 killed in 2007, according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). More than 60 percent of the slaughtered rhinos lived in Kruger National Park.

The growing demand for rhino horn comes mainly from Asian countries, where locals prize the ivory as a status symbol and sometimes use it in traditional medicine for ailments ranging from gout to rheumatism.

With the evacuation, officials aim to move rhinos from the park's vulnerable eastern edge, where poaching is rampant, to safer places across the country. Though the rhinos' final homes haven't been decided yet, the government is considering other national and provincial parks, safer spots in Kruger National Park, private reserves, and even other countries. The evacuation will also break up dense rhino populations into less populous groups; the dense groups face higher mortality rates and breeding pressures.