THE LAST OF THE RHINOS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 18, 22 January 1938, Page 25

THE LAST OF THE RHINOS

News has come from Zululand that a herd of white rhinoceros there is being threatened/with destruction because it. is straying, beyond the game reserves, -writes David Seth-Smith in the >'Daily Mail." - . Settlers believe that these animals help ;to carry the tse-tse " "fly, which spreads a disease fatal to cattle Be that as it may, it would be, a tragedy if the herd were wiped Out, for it represents, with another herd further to the ' north, all that is left of one of the mightiest races of the wild. '. . . ■ ......

='The. white rhinoceros is-a curious beast. It is not really white, but it has a habit of rolling in light-colour-ed mud, which adheres to its hide, and it thus gets a "blond" appearance. ■ Although black rhinos are at the present time jaot so few as the whites, their ranks,' too; have been sadly thinned during recent years. Kenya is now almost their last place of refuge; if they are not protected there by strictly enforced law their doom will be certain! No doubt one of the chief causes of the deplorable depletion of the numbers of rhinos, even in the so-called safety of preserves, is poaching". It is well known that the Chinese will" pay .almost any money for rhinoceros horn, being convinced that it possesses" magical properties as medicine. Poachers will take great

risks to secure rhino horn, which is smuggled, out of Africa cut up in small pieces. ' ..... The disappearance of the elephant from Africa will be another tragic loss to the world if strong measures are not taken to prevent it. Ever since the white man set foot m that country elephants have constantly been hunted.

Towards the end of the last century ivory from 20,000 elephants used to be sold every year- in one European market alone. A commercial, game hunter would think he had a. poor bag if he did not kill from 400 to 500 bull elephants in a year.. . • . ■ . Even in the last few .years the annual killings throughout Africa have totalled 36,000.' Most are killed in the Congo, where as many as 25,000 are accounted for in a year. . In the last decade the hippopotamus^ has ceased to be a-comparatively common animal, and its continued existence will depend solely on watchful protection. Hundreds have been killed in recent years., . .

Some animals represented in .zoos in Queen Victoria's days are now extinct. There was-the quagga, for instance—a quaint kind of zebra, having few stripes. Once there were enormous herds of quaggas in Africa, but the Dutch settlers began a reckless slaughter among them, for their' skins and meat, which ultimately led to their extermination.