Poaching.

JOHANNESBURG - Poachers have killed 158 rhinos in South Africa's national parks since the beginning of the year, a rate of more than two a day, environment officials said on Friday. The vast Kruger National Park which borders Mozambique has registered 116 killings, despite beefed up anti-poaching initiatives by park authorities. In December, Kruger acquired a military aircraft equipped with sophisticated surveillance technology to detect poachers. "A total of 61 people have been arrested, 38 of them alleged poachers and three alleged couriers," said a statement. Parks in the mining province of North West and the eastern KwaZulu-Natal reported 12 and nine killings respectively. Poaching ...

Chinese traditional medicine practitioners have used parts of rare and powerful animals for millennia. Among the ancient remedies is tiger penis to treat erectile dysfunction. As the Chinese economy has grown so has the number of animals hunted for use in medicines and luxury goods, but the introduction of pharmaceuticals, such as Viagra, may help make a dent in the culling of endangered animals. "We haven't examined this idea empirically, but it's our belief that the rapid and observable effects of Viagra made it ...

A terrifying and tragic scene broke out this month at the Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, when highly trained poachers swooped over the wildlife facility in helicopters. According to The (U.K.) Telegraph, 22 elephants were massacred in the grotesque operation to retrieve the animals' in-demand ivory tusks. The barbaric act decimated an entire herd of elephants, including their young. It is one of the bloodiest animal killings in recent history in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After the poachers shot down the elephants from their choppers, they landed and proceeded to scavenge the rest of the animals' bodies. The illegal hunters hacked off the elephants' ...

JOHANNESBURG, (AFP) -- Four men, including one in a South African National Parks uniform, were arrested after being found with a fake rhino horn that they apparently intended to sell on the black market as genuine, police said Thursday. The odd discovery came after the men had a car crash outside Johannesburg, when police found a cooler bag with what looked like a rhino horn still dripping in blood. RELATED: Orphaned South African Rhino Has Successful Cataract Surgery But upon further examination, the horn was found to be wooden, said McIntosh Polela, spokesman for the elite Hawks unit of the police. "The guys obviously did a very good job to try and make it look like the real thing, ...