Stopping Rhino Poaching

I just found out about a great campaign that Mahlatini, the safari holiday experts, are running to stop rhino poaching. Rhino poaching is a very severe problem in Africa with hundreds of rhinos killed every year for their horns. In South Africa alone, over 300 rhinos were killed in 2010 and the number is looking equally bad for 2011 with the last count of 71 poached. This is a serious problem that needs a lot of attention.

You may be asking why people actually poach rhino horns. It’s because in a number of cultures, there seems to be a prevailing myth that rhino horns can cure serious diseases like cancer. This is of course completely untrue; you might as well chew off your fingernails and decide that they can cure cancer too! The likelihood is the same and this is truly a tragedy, robbing lovely innocent animals of their lives for absolutely zero purpose.

I’ve been surprised, having a look around these days, how easy it is to actually do your bit to stop rhino poaching. Mahlatini’s way is the easiest. I’ve done what they’ve asked and copied this little snippet to my blog so I can enter:

Help Mahlatini stop rhino poaching by entering to win a rhino adoption under your name! The Experts at safari holidays, Mahlatini have teamed up with Amakhala Game Reserve to raise awareness of rhino poaching in South Africa.

Awareness is obviously not the only step. There are a lot of adoption programmes out there and different ways to give back and stop rhino poaching. But given how ignorant so many people are about this problem, it seems like something we should all be doing. If I don’t win Mahlatini’s competition, I might just adopt a rhino for myself!

Come back next week for a return to honeymoon content. In the meantime, you can always think about going to visit some rhinos on your safari!