Rhinos are being killed in such unprecedented numbers that there are realistic fears they could wiped from the face of the planet within a generation. If this happens, it will be the first major extinction of an animal in the wild since worldwide conservation movement began.
The bare statistics are horrifying. In south Africa, more rhinos are being slaughtered for their horns in a single week than were killed in a whole year decade ago. And death toll is fast accelerating. In 2007, a mere 13 were killed. Last year, it was 448,and this year , by april 19, it was 181.
That is equivalent to 600 a year in a country which is home to 93 percent of all white rhinos. One expert thinks it could be take longer.
According to Patrick bergin, chief executive of African wildlife foundation, “I f the poaching of rhino continues at this rate, we could see their extinction within our life time. The situation is absolutely at a crisis level. This attrition is being driven by the astonishing street value fro rhino horn, which fetches(pound sterling) 400000 a kilo, more even than gold. Chinese medicine and jewellery are amin markets, but, in recent years, widedpread rumours in Vietnam that rhino horn can cure cancer has seen demand there rocket. As a result, the javan rhino became extinct in that country in November.”
Richard Emsile, scientific officer for the African rhino group at the International Union for conservation of Nature said, “we are facing a horrific situation at the moment where some of the poachers are using veterinary drugs, drugging the rhinos and then, hacking off the horns and part of the face at same time, so they get the whole lot, while the animal still alice.”
“The people now trading in rhino horn used to be trading in drugs, arms and human trafficking, and probably still are, but hey have found this new valuable resource that is less protected.”

Ben Janse van Rensburg, head of enforcement for Convention on International Trade in Endangered species of world Fauna and Flora, the international treaty that governs trade in plants and animals, said, “ The biggest challenge is that in the past few yers there has been a big shift from ordinary to organized crime groups. They are really well resourced and they have significant networks globally. You are dealing with serious transnational organized crime.” And their targets are Africas white rhinos, a total population estimated by some to be as high as 25000, but by other to be as low as 11000.