Picture Credit: Frederick. J
Greediness
Rhino's Precious Horn
Rhinos once populated many places throughout Asia, Africa as well as Europe and were known to early European people who drawn paintings of Rhino’s in caves. At the beginning of the 20th century, over half a million rhinos roamed Asia and Africa. As of the 1970s, rhino’s population numbers dropped drastically to around 70,000 and today only as few as 28,000 rhinos remain in the wild. Very few rhinos survive outside forest reserves and national parks because of the persistent poaching and habitat loss over many decades.
Three species of rhinos, the Sumatran, Javan as well as Black rhinos are critically endangered. Nowadays a small population of Javan rhinos is found in only one national park located on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Java. A mainland subspecies of the Javan rhino was declared extinct bank in 2011. In Africa, the southern white rhinos, once thought to be extinct, now thrives in protected sanctuaries and are classified as near threatened instead of endangered or extinct. However, unfortunately the Western Black Rhino as well as the Northern White Rhinos have recently become extinct in the wild. The only two remaining Northern White Rhinos are kept under 24-hour guard and protection in a forest park reserve in Kenya.
Over the year’s rhinos have become victims of organized crime. In the wild rhinos have no predators except for humans. Rhinos are hunted and killed for their horns. Rhino horns are of major demand in the region of Asia, as people have used their horns for traditional medicines as well as ornamental decoration. It is because of this that black market dealers assemble hunting crews to hunt and kill these precious rhinos, just for their horns.
As mentioned earlier, rhino poaching is to meet the high demand for their horns in Asian countries, where their horns are predominantly used in various traditional Chinese medicines. However, in the 21st century rhino horns are increasingly being used as a symbol of wealth, where the rich decorate their closet exhibit with rhino horns. This encourages black market operators and black-market hunters to hunt and kill rhinos even more prevalently just for their horns. Lucrative black market exists stemming from the rising demand from South East Asian countries, in particular China as well as Vietnam. Rhino horn is estimated to e valued at 60,000 dollars per pound on the black market, valuing rhino horn approximately three times that of gold.
This is often overlooked but rhinos play a crucial role in their ecosystem. They are important grazers, consuming large amounts of vegetation, which helps shape the landscape of the forest or desert they live in. This keeps a healthy balance within the ecosystem and is of benefit to other animals as well. The local people of Africa also depend on the natural resources within a rhino’s habitat for fuel, income and even food to put on the table for their families and loved ones. Known as one of the “big five”, rhinos are a popular sight for tourists. Ecotourism is an important source of income for the native people of Africa. By protecting rhinos, we are helping to conserve their habitat for the benefit of wildlife as well as people, aiding local communities also ensuring natural resources are available for generations to come.
Rhinos are magnificent gentle giants, yes, they are very protective of each other and have the tendency to charge at a human, if said human provokes it however, they can be friendly creatures when we show humanity and care. Rhinos make adorable sounds when human feed them at zoos or animal sanctuaries. They are a precious life form that is often overlook when huge amount of money is on the table. Thanks to various wildlife organizations rhinos still have a chance to coexists with us here on earth. To raise awareness to the masses of the world that killing rhinos for their horns is very wrong and inhumane is absolutely necessary, otherwise we will live in a world without these majestic gentle giants.
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#AnimalCruelty #CageTheCruelty #AnimalSaviourJC
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Written by: Joshua. C - 20th of June 2020
References:
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https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino-info/threats/poaching-rhino-horn/
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https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/541375/things-you-might-not-know-about-rhinos
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https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/black-rhino
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhino_poaching_in_Assam
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