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Juliet's calf |
A rhino bull, cow and calf all targeted
by poachers
At
the end of March,
Zimbabwean scouts responding to shots, located poachers’ tracks following a
group of three rhinos - a bull, cow and calf.
The rhino group split up and the poachers followed the spoor of the large
bull. Tracking through the afternoon, the scouts eventually caught up to the
bull rhino. Sadly, he had already been shot and was laboring through his
last breaths. It was too late to save him. Expecting the poachers to return
to recover the horn, the scouts sat in ambush, but then just as darkness
fell, they heard a single shot to the south. The poachers did not return to
the bull carcass to recover the horns overnight, so the scouts moved south
at first light and soon picked up the poachers' tracks again, and this time
caught up with them. Shots were fired, but the poachers escaped through the
thick bush. A search of the area located the carcass of a twelve-month-old
female calf. The trampled bushes around the carcass indicated that the
mother had been agitatedly standing by as her calf died. This is where the
poachers had returned the evening before - having shot the calf when they
shot the bull earlier in the day, they knew the mother would stay by her
dying calf. The last shot at dark was aimed at the calf's mother - Juliet.
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Juliet has been located and has a single bullet wound to the neck.
Fortunately, she is moving and feeding normally and the wound does not
appear to be too deep, so her chances for survival are very good. The search
for the poachers continues - matching tracks were found over the weekend,
moving into a neighboring property.
In this
picture,
the
largest set of horns is from
the bull shot on March 30th - his name was Towla. The small set are
from Juliet's calf. The third set is from a three year old female also
likely shot by the same gang of poachers. Although the rangers
were unable to save these rhinos, they were at least able to remove
the horns before the poachers could return to retrieve them, preventing
the poachers from profiting these deaths. The Lowveld Rhino Trust
believes this gang is responsible for at least ten black rhino
deaths in the last six months. Poachers are relentlessly hunting down rhinos
for their horns, which fetch
thousands of dollars on the black market
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