Article by Tessa Botha (age 13)
Poachers need to stop killing rhinos. In the wild rhino populations would be stable because Rhinos have no predators but with humans killing them their population is not stable.
There are two reasons rhinos are going extinct. The main reason that is causing them to go extinct is poaching. Poachers kill rhinos for their horns and then smuggle them out of Africa and send them to Asia. In Asia the horns are made into ornament carvings or medicine. The medicine they make is used to cure cancer and hangovers but rhino horns are actually made of keratin which is the same thing our hair and nails are made of. Rhinos horns are worth more by weight than cocaine so horn smugglers do anything they can to smuggle it out of africa.
There are two types of rhinos which are white rhinos and black rhinos. White rhinos weigh 2 tons while black rhinos weight 1 to 1.5 tons. Both rhinos have thick grey skin and have bad eyesight. Even though they have bad eyesight they have great hearing and smell. Both Rhinos are critically endangered due to poaching for their horns.
South Africa is home to more than 80% of the rhino population in Africa. In 2017 there were 1,028 rhinos killed. In 2018 there were 769 rhinos killed. In 2019 there were 594 rhinos killed. In 2020 there were 394 rhinos killed.
In kruger National Park in South Africa the rhino population has gone down 70% in the last 10 years. This has happened because Kruger National Park is home to most of the poaching that happens In South Africa is there. In 2010 there were 10,000 rhinos in the park and now it's down to 268 black rhinos and 3,549 white rhinos. In 2020 there were 245 rhinos killed in the park.
In Kruger national park the number of Rhinos poached has gone down due to the Covid lockdown. Because of the lockdown it has made it harder to travel around the park because of the security on the roads. Now the restrictions causing this to happen have gone away and rhino poachers have started poaching again.
Over the years the rhinos killed every year has gone down a little each year but it is mainly due to there being less Rhinos. This makes it harder for poachers to find them.
The second reason for rhinos going extinct is habitat loss. Rhinos are losing their homes because people are taking their land to build new roads, housing, and other buildings.
As you can see we are the main reason for Rhinos going extinct. We are taking their land away from them and we are killing them. If we don’t stop what we are doing to them soon then it might be too late to save them.
