Killed By Poachers Before It Had A Chance To Live. Pregnant Rhino And Calf Shot Dead By Poachers In Pilanesberg National Park

Killed by poachers before it had a chance to live: A pregnant Rhino is shot dead along with its calf and unborn child by poachers who fled before they could cut off the mother’s horn

These heartbreaking images show an unborn Rhino calf who died after its mother and sibling were shot and killed by poachers.

The Rhino was heavily pregnant and roaming Pilanesberg National Park in Mogwase, north-west South Africa, with its calf when they were hunted down for their horns.

Photos show the poachers began hacking off the mother’s prized horn, but they were interrupted by park rangers and fled before they had time to remove it.

When park staff tried to save the unborn calf, it was found to have died inside its mother’s womb.

Pilanesberg National Park wrote on its official Facebook page: ‘There are no words.

‘Mom and calf shot and killed by poachers. Horns are still on as the murderers fled the scene when they heard a game drive approach. Mom looks very pregnant as well. We are devastated.’

Pilanesberg National Park added in the post that a reward will be issued for any information leading to an arrest and prosecution of the poachers.

A spokesperson for the park told MailOnline that the mother Rhino was aged eight and the calf just two years old. The unborn foetus would have been due in February next year.

‘We have lost 16 Rhino and 3 unborn calves so far 2017 – that we are aware of,’ the spokesperson said.

‘This loss is not due to lack of interest or effort from Park management, as this is a large park with many valleys and hills, which is a difficult territory to operate in.’

Since 2007, more than 6,000 Rhinos have been shot and butchered for their horns in South Africa alone.

The majority of those have come in the last four years with around a thousand being killed every year since 2013.

Sometimes the Rhinos are shot dead, in other cases they are brought down with a tranquiliser gun before having their horn hacked off – leaving the Rhino to wake up and bleed to death painfully and slowly.

The province of KwaZulu-Natal, which has the greatest density of Rhino in South Africa, has seen 139 slaughtered already this year.

Despite countries such as China, Vietnam, South Korea, Malaysia and even India believing Rhino has medicinal values, repeated studies have not found any evidence to support the claims.

Rhino horns are made from a protein called keratin, the same substance that human fingernails and hair are made of. The horn is essentially just a compacted mass of hairs that continues to grow throughout the animal’s lifetime, just like human hair and nails.

It is similar in structure to horses’ hooves, turtle beaks, and cockatoo bills – however these animals are not hunted and slaughtered in the same way.

Tragically tradition and cultural beliefs in some Asian countries mean the demand for Rhino horn has not waned despite just some 20,000 white Rhino being left in the wild.

Poachers are now being supplied by international criminal gangs with sophisticated equipment to track and kill Rhinos. A kilo of Rhino horn is worth around $30,000 (£23,000) – making it more valuable than a kilo of gold at $25,000 (£19,000).

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