According to an official report, since the start of April this year, 9 rhinos in Botswana have been poached.
If the poaching numbers continue to stay on this level, experts believe rhinos can be wiped out in Botswana by 2021.
According to Rhino Conservation Botswana, Botswana has nearly 400 rhinos, in which most of them roam the grassy plains of Okavango Delta.
The ministry of environment statement said 2 rhinos were poached within 5 days in the northern Okavango Delta in Botswana in September alone.
Mmadi Reuben, a rhino coordinator for Botswana’s wildlife department in the statement, said, “We have been losing about a rhino a month to poaching. If the poaching continues at this rate there will be no rhinos in Botswana in a year or two, especially the black rhino.”
White rhinos are no longer on the verge of going extinct, but black rhinos are.
The Black Rhinos are currently listed in the critically endangered list, as there are over 4000 living in the wild right now.
Botswana has a shoot-to-kill policy against perpetrators, but even with their strict policies against poaching, poachers in Botswana manage to get away with the kill.
Less than 20 percent of the rhino population is found in Botswana.
In recent operations, 2 perpetrators were killed in Botswana.
The authorities said, “The anti-poaching forces have now placed the protection of rhinos and location of these poaching gangs as their highest priority.”
Poaching is famous in Africa, this is because of the high demand for the rhino horn in countries in Asia.
The ministry of Botswana said, “The Okavango is a very large area with difficult wetland terrain, which these poachers are using to their advantage.”
Rhino horn is sold for $60,300 per kilo in the black market.
Rhino horn is used in traditional Asian medicine and is often used as a symbol of success or wealth.