
Jasper heard from one his anti-poaching commandos today who recently finished his highly specialized training to defend Africa's rhinos against the deadly, criminal syndicates.
The increase in rhino poaching is a trend that is making poaching reach a 15-year high on the continent. Poachers are becoming organized and employing high tech methods like night vision goggles, rifles with silencers and even helicopters. These sophisticated criminal syndicates "threaten to roll back more than three decades of conservation work that brought the species back from the brink of extinction," writes Jerome Taylor of The Independent.
The World Wildlife Foundation reports show that rhino kills in South Africa totaled 333 during 2010, an increase of 173 percent over 2009.