African rhinos to be dehorned

 

Harare - Authorities in Zimbabwe, where the rhinoceros population is under threat from poachers, have launched a massive dehorning exercise, reports said on Thursday. The horns of black and white rhinos are coveted by poachers who can sell them to dealers for use as dagger handles in the Middle East and for traditional medicine in Asia. "We want poachers to know that if they kill any rhino in Zimbabwe, they will not find any horns," Henry Madzikanda, the chief ecologist in the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management told the state-controlled Herald newspaper. A team of experts from the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Zimbabwe's Parks Department are to carry out the exercise on more than 780 rhinos, starting in southeastern Zimbabwe, Madzikanda said. Source: African Hunting Info