Rhino killers need hefty sentences

That sums up our report today that rhino poaching has shown a 16% decline year-on-year… but that a horrifying 352 animals – or one a day – were killed in 2025. The Kruger National Park, the jewel in the crown of our nature reserves, experienced its worst year on record for rhino poaching. Kruger is close to populated areas.

It has the biggest population of rhino. Being a government-run facility, funds for antipoaching operations do not flow as freely as they do for private safari operations. Finally, sadly, many of the government officials in and around Kruger are probably corruptly benefiting from the illegal trade.

It’s also apparent – from a presentation yesterday by Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Willie Aucamp – that multinational networks still exist to feed demand from countries, particularly in Asia, for rhino horn. Unless sentences for convicted poachers are put on par with those of murderers – and they are killers – and there is a concerted global effort to shame rhino horn users, this will always be a war we will lose.