African Rebel Groups Putting White Rhino At
Risk Of Extinction
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Rebel
troops from Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo are killing one of the world's
rarest rhinos in the D.R.C. and selling the horns
to buy arms, the London Telegraph reported yesterday.
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Currently, just 22 Northern White rhinos, a subspecies of
the white rhino, live in their only wildlife refuge - a
UNESCO World Heritage site - in the northeast corner of
the D.R.C. Despite their protected status, the rhinos are
not being protected by park rangers, who say they have been
attacked by heavily armed rebels.
According
to conservationists, the rhinos will be extinct within months
if nothing is done to prevent the hunting.
After
killing the rhinos, the rebels sell their horns for more
than $7,500 a pair to Yemeni craftsmen who use them to make
traditional daggers, the Telegraph reports.
"These
rhinos are on the brink of extinction," said the director
of Save the Rhino International, Cathy Dean. "Invading
armies have reached the heart of the park and have realized
that another way of earning income for arms is to shoot
valuable species. For us to lose a whole subspecies would
be disastrous."
In
1995, there were only 15 rhinos left, from 6,000 in the
1940s. Because of the protection they received in the national
park, the number doubled to 30 in 1991 and had stayed at
that level through last year (Susan Bisset, London Telegraph,
Oct. 5).
Copyright, UN Wire, Year 2003 . http://www.unwire.org/UNWire/
