First Place
Brent Stirton
Getty Images
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"RHINO WARS"
MESSINA, SOUTH AFRICA, MARCH 2011: A White Rhino skin is salted for curing after a morning hunt on Dawie Groenewald's hunting estate in Messina, South Africa, March 25 2011. South African hunting laws currently allow for an unlimited number of White Rhino hunts annually. The hunts cost an average of $50 to $70 000 but the horn of a large Rhino can sell for up to $300 000 thus there is a large loophole in the law for Asian hunters and horn traffickers to exploit. Groenewald along with his wife and 11 of his employees are currently accused of involvement in the illegal Rhino Horn trade. He is suspected of killing a number of rhino on his farm and de-horning them without permits for the conservation authority. Groenewald denies this but has become the posterboy for the Rhino poaching epedemic sweeping South Africa. He is free on bail and authorities have not confiscated his helicopter or his guns. He continues to conduct hunts on his property for a majority Vietnamese and Eastern European clientele. |
