South Africa: Rhino poaching decreases by more than 50% in first half of 2020!

According to the latest numbers released by South Africa's Deparment of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, rhino poaching in the country has decreased by almost 53% in the first six months of 2020. A total of 166 rhinos were killed for their horns in South Africa since the beginning of the year.
During the first six months of 2019, 316 rhinos had been poached across the country. Between the start of the  lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus on 27 March 2020 until the end of June 2020, 46 rhino were poached in South Africa. Of these, 14 rhino were poached during April 2020, 13 in May 2020 and 19 in June 2020.

In Kruger National Park, 88 rhino were poached between January 2020 and June 2020.  As the lockdown restrictions have gradually been lifted so the rhino poaching incidents have slowly increased. In the first six months of 2020, 38 suspected rhino poachers have been arrest in Kruger National Park and 23 firearms confiscated, while 57 suspects have been arrested during joint South African National Parks Environmental Crime Investigation (SANParks ECI) / South African Police Service (SAPS) operations outside of Kruger National Park and 18 firearms recovered.