Bonnie and Clyde white rhinos at the Schotia Private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape.
- Bonnie and Clyde the rhinos were killed by poachers last week.
- The couple survived a previous attack by poachers nine years ago.
- the animals were shot with high-powered rifles, killed and dehorned.
Two white rhinos, which survived a poaching attack nine years ago, were killed in the Schotia private game reserve in the Eastern Cape last week.
Field Ranger Zane Hagemann confirmed the couple, affectionately known as Bonnie and Clyde, were discovered during a guest game drive Thursday afternoon.
“They were attacked sometime between 10 p.m. Wednesday, when they were last seen on a night drive, and 5 p.m. Thursday, when their bodies were discovered, but probably in the early hours of the morning. Thursday,” Hagemann said.
He added that they had been shot with high-powered rifles, killed, and dehorned.
“It’s a huge blow to the reserve, the area, the industry and the species. Even if we remove their horns, rhinos in this area are poached for any remaining bits of horn.”
Two other rhino poaching incidents are believed to have occurred in the surrounding area in the same week.
Hagemann declined to provide details of the other incidents, but confirmed that the incidents were being investigated by the Eastern Cape anti-poaching unit and the South African Police Service.
Bonnie and Clyde white rhinos at the Schotia Private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape.
News 24
“Poachers are very well organized. Usually they hit two or three reserves in a week and then leave the area for a while,” Hagemann said.
Eastern Cape Police spokeswoman Colonel Priscilla Naidu was unable to confirm further incidents in the area.
The reserve’s owner, Jenny Bean, said her husband, Peter Bean, refused to speak because “it had been too traumatic and heartbreaking.”
SEE | Man glues his face to ‘Pearl Girl’ in The Hague during climate protest
Bonnie and Clyde survived a poaching attack nine years ago. Bonnie was pregnant at the time, but the rhino fetus was later aborted. She had never had children.
Schotia claims to be the oldest private game reserve in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, bordering the eastern side of the Addo Elephant National Park. It has 2,000 animals, including lions in the wild.
Environment Minister Barbara Creecy said in a press release on Tuesday that 451 rhinos were killed last year, three fewer than the previous year.
Creecy said white rhino killings in Kruger National Park had dropped by 40%.
