Nearly 200 rhinos were killed in South Africa in the first half of 2011, with most slaughtered in the world-famous Kruger National Park, environmental group WWF said.
South Africa lost 193 rhinos in the first six months of the year, with 126 of them killed in Kruger, one of South Africa’s top tourist draws, the group said in a statement.
Last year a record 333 rhinos were killed in South Africa, which is home to about 70 percent of the world’s rhino population.
“Poaching is being undertaken almost without exception by sophisticated criminals, sometimes hunting from helicopters and using automatic weapons,” said Joseph Okori, WWF’s African rhino programme coordinator.
“South Africa is fighting a war against organised crime that risks reversing the outstanding conservation gains it made over the past century.”