Memorial to a species

With all due respect to wildlife photographer Brent Stirton, this is his award winning photograph of a de-horned black rhino in the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve.

I understand the poor communities of not just South Africa but the whole continent of Africa hold a short-term view of the majestic wildlife inhabiting this planet. The more animals we kill, the rarer they become and the demand for their ivory, horns or other body parts becomes more lucrative. The black rhino is critically endangered, pretty much solely due to the illegal black rhino horn trade.

This black market trade needs to be eradicated to prevent this disgraceful and wasteful environmental crime. There are guards but apparently the poachers entered the park under the cover of darkness using silenced rifles and shot the animal hacking off it's horn before the patrol discovered the crime. According to the photographer, this was one of more than thirty slain whilst covering the story - this is an absolute blight on humankind.