Poachers Target Rhinos in Limpopo Park
2/5/11 10:50 AM
Maputo
Maputo — The authorities of the Limpopo National Park (PNL) in southern
Mozambique fear that well-organised gangs of poachers are driving to
extinction the small rhinoceros population in the park.
Vino Macamero, the PNL official in charge of protecting its wild life, cited
on Radio Mozambique on Friday, said that a wildlife census in 2010 found
that ten rhinos, introduced into the park three years ago, were missing.
Macamero feared that they had fallen victim to the poachers, who are well
equipped and work with international criminal gangs. Rhinoceros horns are
sold in Asia where they are considered a powerful aphrodisiac and fetch
enormous prices.
The belief that rhino horn will boost sexual prowess is particularly
idiotic, since the horn is made of keratin, which is exactly the same
substance found in human hair and nails. Chewing your fingernails will have
exactly the same effect on your sex life as eating powders made of rhino
horn – none at all.
It is not only credulous Asians who believe in the magical powers of rhino
horn. A “traditional doctor” named Kantona Hawa has been distributing
leaflets on the streets of Maputo promising “rhinoceros horn powder to
increase the size of your penis”. This charlatan has not yet been arrested.
Poaching is a serious threat to the continued existence of both species of
rhinoceros (black and white) throughout southern Africa. In 2010, according
to the South African authorities, 300 rhinos were slaughtered for their
horns in that country. Recently, seven black rhinos were poisoned or shot in
Zimbabwe.