Beloved rhino pair named Bonnie and Clyde butchered by poachers in South Africa park

A decade after surviving an attack by poachers, a white rhino pair were killed in a South African game reserve, officials said.

The Schotia Safaris Private Game Reserve announced its “beloved” rhino pair, named Bonnie and Clyde, were found dead in the park with their horns “hacked off,” according to a Facebook post on Feb. 4.

Park officials said the rhinos had faced poachers before, in 2012, but had come out alive. This time, they were killed with a high-caliber gun.

“Our beloved rhino pair have been murdered/poached,” the reserve said. “Their lives ended for their horns.”

Zane Hagemann, a field ranger for the reserve, told News24 that there had been two other suspected incidents of rhino poaching in the area around the reserve during the first week of February, but local authorities did not confirm that.

“The poachers are very well organised. They will usually hit two or three reserves in a week and then leave the area for a while,” he said.

Rhino hunting became illegal in 1977, but poachers still kill the animals for their horns, thought to have medicinal qualities in some cultures.

“Even though the horn has been proven to have zero medicinal benefits, the mentality surrounding that will take generations of education to correct,” the reserve’s post said. “Much longer than the current lives of existing rhino, and the current rate of poaching.”

The game reserve said horns of rhinos can be removed ethically, and there are efforts to remove them safely before poachers can take them, hopefully saving the life of the rhino.

Just under 16,000 white rhinos are estimated to be alive today, according to Save the Rhino.

Poaching carries a harsh legal penalty in South Africa. A 34-year-old poacher was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Feb. 3 after he was accused of killing a rhino in Kruger National Park in September, according to South African police.

Recent efforts by the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment have reduced the total number of poached rhinos, but 448 were still killed in 2022, mainly in national parks and protected areas, according to a Feb. 6 news release.

Private parks, like the Schotia Safaris Private Game Reserve, “lost 86 rhinos,” the release said.

The game reserve asked others on Facebook to share photos of the rhino pair to help celebrate their lives together, and many shared photos and videos of their trips on safari to see Bonnie and Clyde.

“RIP Bonnie and Clyde, your legacy will forever live on here at Schotia (Safaris). We are sorry that we were not there to help you!” the reserve said.

Schotia Safaris Private Game Reserve is in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

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