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Reports from HPR's Dave Lawrence

Rhinos at the Tipping Point: How Asia factors into their Extinction Crisis

Anton Matthee

The scene of a rhino poaching in South Africa, April 2016. A baby female rhino calf is rescued, found extremely traumatized by the side of her mother, killed on a private game reserve April 24, 2016. The rhino crisis has spawned a crisis-within-a-crisis, leaving behind hundreds of infants and young rhino calves who require extraordinary care. Numerous rhino orphanages have sprung up in an attempt to provide care and shelter for the constantly growing orphaned rhino population.

    

Over the last year both NPR and HPR have done a number of reports about the poaching epidemic affecting the rhinoceros. Widespread violence waged against them to supply rhino horn to people in mainly two countries, Vietnam and China, has led to what is widely being called the tipping point, where more rhinos are being killed than born. It's also the name of one of two new reports about the crisis from The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, authored by Julian Rademeyer. The investigative journalist, also the author of the book "Killing for Profit: Exposing the Illegal Rhino Horn Trade," spoke with HPR ATC Host Dave Lawrence about the crisis. 

Credit International Rhino Foundation
Andatu is a Sumatran rhino living at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Indonesia. Funded by the International Rhino Foundation, the animals are among the rarest and most vulnerable in the world, with about 100 thought to be alive. The facility houses seven of these very special rhinos.

MORE ON THE CRISIS:

Hear the complete interview with Julian Rademeyer for HPR's All Things Considered:

julian_rademeyer_complete_hpr_atc_interview_august_2016.mp3
Julian Rademeyer Rhino Extinction Crisis Complete HPR ATC Interview August 2016

Read both Global Initiative reports on the rhino crisis online here.

 See a short video about the crisis and new reports from Julian Rademeyer and Global Initiative:  

Credit Saving the Survivors
Rhino poaching survivor Hope, who lived through a brutal attack in May 2015. She is under the care of Saving the Survivors, a non-profit devoted to providing medical care to rhino poaching survivors in South Africa. Hope has become a symbol of the rapidly growing rhino poaching crisis.

Dave Lawrence is the local host of All Things Considered, Road Stories (formerly Off the Road) and Stargazer.
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