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23 May 2012

Media Release: Update on Rhino Poaching statistics

The Kruger National Park, Limpopo, North West and KwaZulu-Natal remain the hardest hit by rhino poachers- collectively accounting for 207 of the rhinos killed this year alone.

The department, our provinces and its public entities such as SANParks view this illegal killing of our national treasure in a very serious light and will continue to prioritise our fight against this crime jointly with our security cluster Ministers and their departments.

The total number of arrests for 2012 is now 146.

Total number of rhinos killed this year:

SA 2010 2011 2012
KNP (SANParks) 146 252 133
MNP (SANParks) 0 6 3
GP 15 9 0
LIM 52 74 31
MP 17 31 6
NW 57 21 20
EC 4 11 3
FS 3 4 0
KZN 38 34 23
WC 0 6 1
NC 1 0 0
TOTAL 333 448 220


Number of arrests:

SA 2012 2011 2010
KNP (SANParks) 36 82 67
MNP (SANParks) 0 0 0
Gauteng (GP) 14 16 10
Limpopo (LIM) 19 34 36
Mpumalanga (MP) 44 73 16
North West (NW) 16 21 2
Eastern Cape (EC) 0 2 7
Free State (FS) 6 0 0
KZN 10 4 25
Western Cape (WC) 0 0 2
Northern Cape (NC) 1 0 0
TOTAL 146 232 165

South Africans are urged to report incidents of rhino poaching or any tip-offs that could lead to arrests and prevention of illegal killings to 0800 205 005

Issued by:
The Department of Environmental Affairs on 21 May 2012

For media queries:
Albi Modise on 083 490 2871