Getty Images Reportage for National Geographic
04 May, 2016
Dorota Ladosz comforts a baby rhino after surgery, at a sanctuary run by Care for Wild Africa, in Mbombela, South Africa. The orphaned animal was attacked by hyenas after its mother had been killed by poachers.
Demand in Asia for rhino horn—traditionally valued for its medicinal properties—is rising steeply, as increasing prosperity in the region means more people can afford to pay the extremely high prices involved. This puts growing pressure on a species already threatened with extinction. In 2007, South Africa, home to 70 percent of the world’s rhinos, reported losing just 13 to poachers%3B by 2015 that had risen to 1,175. Unlike elephant tusks, rhino horn grows back when cut properly. Rhino rancher John Hume is among those attempting to end the international ban on trading in rhino horn, and to farm rhinos commercially, a move fiercely opposed by conservationists, who say a legal trade could doom rhinos.
Brent Stirton
Brent Stirton is a special correspondent for Getty Images, and a regular contributor to National Geographic magazine as well as other international titles. He speci...