KZN businessman pays nearly R1m to hunt rhino

Simon Bloch, an activist with the Outraged South African Citizens Against Poaching said he could not understand the move when rhinos were already in danger. "We are supposed to be fighting poaching. What kind of message are they sending out if we are shooting rhinos ourselves?" he said, adding that his organisation had asked Ezemvelo to postpone the awarding of the tender as it was trying to raise money to pay for the rhino - and thus save it.

Ezemvelo CEO Bandile Mkhize said that the funds raised through the hunts were used for conservation. "The removal of a small number of individually identified rhino males actually enhances overall metapopulation growth rates and furthers genetic conservation," she was reported by News24.com as saying. According to SA National Parks statistics, 405 rhinos had been killed in the country in 2011, compared to 333 killed in 2010.

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