According to official government data, 87 rhinos were slaughtered in Namibia last year, an all-time high compared to the 45 rhinos murdered in 2021.
The desire for rhino horn, which is valued in East Asia as a purported medicine and as jewellery despite being made of the same material as rhino hair and fingernails, has caused a decimation of the rhino population in Africa over the years.
According to Romeo Muyunda, a spokesman for the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, poachers killed 61 black and 26 white rhinos, mostly in Etosha, Namibia’s largest park, where 46 rhinos were discovered dead.
“We note with serious concern that our flagship park, Etosha National Park, is a poaching hotspot,” Muyunda said, adding that the ministry and law enforcement officials have stepped up efforts against wildlife crime in the park to curb poaching.
The only free-roaming black rhinos left in the world reside in the southern African nation, which also houses a third of the surviving black rhinos.
Since South Africa and Botswana, which are neighbours, have been particularly hard hit by rhino poaching, anti-poaching programmes have been implemented, including tough law enforcement and rhino dehorning to deter poaching.
