Rescuers save pair of baby rhinos after their mothers are shot by poachers

A pair of baby rhinos have been rescued by conservationists after their mothers were shot in separate poaching incidents. The two babies were observed wandering together.

A rhino mother and her baby. Rhinos form attachments similar to humans, and babies often refuse to leave their mother's side even after the mother is killed. Without their mothers, the babies often become prey to various predators.

Highlights

By Marshall Connolly (CALIFORNIA NETWORK)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
7/12/2017 (7 years ago)

Published in Green

Keywords: rhino, poaching, extinct, horn, ivory

Organized poaching gangs slaughter about two dozen rhinos per week across South Africa. The rhino population is now down to about 20,000 individuals. At the present rate of poaching, the rhino will be extinct in about fifteen to twenty years.

Poachers have become brazen, even to the point of killing animals in sanctuaries and zoos.

They are driven by demand for rhino horn which is believed to have medicinal properties in some cultures. The horns are ground into powder and turned into alleged remedies that can cure diseases and fight sexual impotency.

A pair of rhino babies, were found running together after both their mothers were poached in separate incidents.

Despite efforts which include the military, there seems to be little anyone can do to protect these animals. There are simply too many people seeking to cash in on the rhino's horn. Poachers are willing to take extreme risks to earn life-changing amounts of money for themselves and their families.

Poachers shot a rhino mother, and sawed off her horn. Conservationists took the heartbreaking photo when they arrived to rescue the orphaned babies.

In so doing, these poachers rob their country, their children, and the world of their natural birthright. Consuming everything now rather than managing their natural wealth for the future.

Rhinos are poached for their horns, which some people believe have medicinal properties. A single horn can sell for over $300,000.

Certainly, there are ways to manage the population of rhinos to generate even more money than imagined without driving the creatures extinct. But such management requires work and effort and skill, and it is easier to kill and make quick cash.

A rhino baby is hand fed by a conservationist at a sanctuary. Even in sanctuaries, rhinos are not entirely safe.

In time, the rhino will be followed by the lion, and the elephant, and many other majestic creatures. The humans will remain, and they will still suffer, but their natural resources will have been squandered, condemning future generations to poverty.

There is no good news, no silver lining, unless people return to their responsibility to love God, one another, and their planet.

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