Poachers suspected of having killed four rhinos have finally been arrested in Kruger Park (South Africa) after an impressive hunt.
It all started this Friday with the report of a tourist who heard gunshots.
An operation was immediately launched.
From a helicopter, rangers at the reserve spotted a rhinoceros carcass and another injured animal alongside it, according to a statement from the South African National Parks Department released on Wednesday.
Two more dead rhinos were later discovered.
A tourist who heard gunshots in the Kruger National Park helped rangers arrest three suspected poachers after they allegedly killed and dehorned rhinos.
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Fierce poaching in South Africa
A second helicopter was then mobilized as well as sniffer dogs.
It was ultimately the latter who "indicated a specific area where three suspects were found and arrested", according to the press release.
The suspected poachers are Mozambicans who entered South Africa illegally.
They were equipped with a large caliber shotgun and ammunition.
The horns of three rhinos were found in their belongings.
The injured rhinoceros had to be euthanized, the seriousness of his bullet wounds not allowing him to be saved.
Kruger Park, the largest in the country (almost the size of Belgium) is known for its wealth of wild animals.
Its rhino population has been ravaged by poaching.
The park had 3,259 white rhinos and 268 rarer black rhinos in 2021, half as many as in 2013, according to the NGO Save the Rhino.
South Africa is home to nearly 80% of the planet's rhinos.
They are hunted for their horns, used in traditional medicine or for their alleged aphrodisiac virtues in Asia.
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Rhinoceros
South Africa
Poaching
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