A brazen heist in Johannesburg has netted poachers a 2.5 million dollars bounty.
The poachers broke into a farm in the Leshoka Game Reserve where rhinos are kept for protection. Many of the rhinos had been safely de-horned to prevent them from being killed. The horns were then stored in a safe on the farm grounds.
Most of the demand for rhino horns comes from Vietnam, where more and more wealthy people are seeking the horns to make powder which is then taken in the belief that it will increase virility and ward off disease.
These 'treatments' are only lore. Scientifically the horn of a rhino is no better than a human's nail in curing anything. But unfortunately, the demand is driving a more aggressive and violent poaching trend that is seeing scores of rhino killed and mutilated.
The
poachers have become more sophisticated, employing helicopters, potent
military weapons and mercenaries to get to the rhinos.
The horns are worth up to 65,000 dollars per kilo, so that is many times more expensive that gold.
The amount of the heist is calculated around 2.5 million dollars.
The Leshoka Reserve wardens are contemplating poisoning the horns to prevent future poaching but the plan has not been approved yet, so de-horning is the only solution left.
Partial source: Times Live 4.6.13
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