Poachers kill first Kenyan rhinos for eight years
Date: 06-Dec-01
Country: KENYA
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said rangers found the rhinos' carcasses stripped of their horns in the Tsavo National Park in southeastern Kenya in late November.
"A full investigation is underway and security has been tightened in all rhino areas," Joe Kioko, acting director of the Kenya Wildlife Service, said in a statement.
"Those responsible for the killing of this endangered animal are being sought and they will be brought to justice," he said.
KWS said there had been isolated incidents of poachers killing rhinos outside Kenya's national parks, but this was the first time they had ventured in to the protected parks in search of their quarry in eight years.
Kenya's black rhino population has fallen to about 460 from an estimated 20,000 in 1970, mainly due to poaching. Authorities have managed to control poaching more recently by concentrating the rhinos in smaller areas, making it easier to protect them.
KWS said that in the last two decades Africa's black rhino numbers have fallen by 90 percent, and the animals are now only found in reasonable numbers in Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia.