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Rhino poaching has decreased by almost 53% in the first six months of 2020, with 166 animals being killed for their horns across the country since the beginning of the year.
The Department of Environment, Forestry, and Fisheries said in a statement on Friday that the 316 rhino had been poached during the same period last year.
Minister Barbara Creecy said after a decade of implementing various anti-rhino poaching strategies and campaigns, these efforts were now paying off.
“We have been able to arrest the escalation of rhino losses,” she said.
She said there was a “striking” decline in rhino poaching cases during the lockdown period compared to last year.
“This reprieve was specifically welcome in the Kruger National Park where during April, no rhino were killed in the Intensive Protection Zone for the first time in almost ten years,” Creecy added.
The Minister said that between the start of the Lockdown on 27 March 2020 until the end of June 2020, 46 rhino were poached across the country while in the Kruger National Park, 88 rhino were poached in the first six months of 2020.
However, Creecy said as the lockdown restrictions were gradually lifted, the number of rhino poaching incidents have slowly increased.
Between January and June, 38 suspected rhino poachers have been arrested in the KNP and 23 firearms confiscated, while 57 suspects have been arrested during joint SANParks ECI /SAPS operations outside of the KNP and 18 firearms recovered.
The statement was released on Friday which also marked World Ranger Day.
